THE  AUTHORITATIVE  LIFE  OF 

GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

FOUNDER  OF  THE  SALVATION  ARMY 


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THE  AUTHORITATIVE  LIFE  OF 

GENERAL 
WILLIAM  BOOTH 

FOUNDER  OF  THE  SALVATION  ARMY 


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WILLIAM    BOOTH 
Born  April  10th,  1829.     Died  August  20th.  1912. 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  LIFE  OF 

GENERAL 
WILLIAM  BOOTH 

FOUNDER  OF  THE  SALVATION  ARMY 


BY 

G.  S.  RAILTON 

First  Commissioner  to  General  Booth 
WITH  A  PREFACE  BY 

GENERAL  BRAMWELL  BOOTH 


HODDER  &  STOUGHTON 

NEW  YORK 

GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


OC-^ 


^K 


^^;^'^'" 


Copyright,  1912, 
By  George  H.  Doran  Company 


PREFACE 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  commending  this  small  volume  as 
containing  so  far  as  its  space  permits,  a  good  picture  of  my 
beloved  Father  and  a  record  of  much  that  made  his  life  of 
interest  and  importance  to  the  world. 

It  does  not,  of  course,  profess  to  cover  anything  like  the 
whole  story  of  his  many  years  of  world-wide  service.  It 
could  not  do  so.  For  any  such  complete  history  we  must 
wait  for  that  later  production  which  may,  I  hope,  be  possible 
before  very  long  when  there  has  been  time  to  go  fully 
through  the  masses  of  diaries,  letters  and  other  papers  he 
has  left  behind  him. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  I  can  make  myself  responsi- 
ble for  every  phrase  Commissioner  Railton  has  used.  I 
know,  however,  that  perhaps  no  one  except  myself  had  any- 
thing like  his  opportunities,  during  the  last  forty  years,  of 
knowing  and  studying  my  Father's  life,  both  in  public  and 
private,  and  of  understanding  his  thoughts  and  purposes. 

Now  we  wish  this  hook  to  accomplish  something. 
We  cannot  think  it  possible  for  anyone,  especially  a  Salva- 
tionist, to  read  it  without  being  compelled  ever  and  anon 
to  ask  himself  such  questions  as  these : — 

"  Am  I  living  a  life  that  is  at  all  like  this  life?  Am  I,  at 
any  rate,  willing  by  God's  grace  to  do  anything  I  can  in  the 
same  direction,  in  order  that  God  may  be  more  loved  and 
glorified,  and  that  my  fellow  men  may  be  raised  to  a  more 
God-like  and  happy  service?  After  all,  is  there  not  some- 
thing better  for  me  than  money-making,  or  the  search  after 
human  applause,  or  indeed  the  pursuit  of  earthly  good  of 
any  kind  ? 

"  If,  instead  of  aiming  at  that  which  will  all  fade  away,  I 
turn  my  attention  to  making  the  best  of  my  life  for  God  and 
for  others,  may  I  not  also  accomplish  something  that  will 

257377 


PREFACE 

afford  me  satisfaction  at  last  and  bear  reflection  in  the 
world  to  come  ?  " 

I  hope  also  that  to  some,  at  least,  the  great  message  of 
this  life  will  stand  revealed  in  these  pages.  I  believe  it  to 
be  that,  while  God  can  do  little  or  nothing  by  us  until  we  are 
completely  submitted  and  given  up  to  Him,  He  can  work 
wonders  of  infinite  moment  to  the  world  when  we  are. 
Asked,  a  few  months  before  his  death,  if  he  would  put  into 
a  sentence  the  secret  as  he  saw  it,  of  all  the  blessings  which 
had  attended  him  during  his  seventy  years  of  service.  The 
General  replied :  "  Well,  if  I  am  to  put  it  into  one  sentence, 
I  would  say  that  I  made  up  my  mind  that  God  Almighty 
should  have  all  there  was  of  Wilham  Booth."  It  was,  in 
the  beginning,  that  entire  devotion  to  God  and  its  continued 
maintenance  which  could,  alone,  account  for  the  story  told 
in  these  brief  records. 

The  book  is,  of  course,  written  in  the  main  from  the 
Salvationist  point  of  view;  much  of  it,  indeed,  is  simply  a 
reproduction  of  my  father's  own  sayings  and  writings  to  his 
own  people.  This,  to  all  thoughtful  readers,  must  be  our 
defence  against  any  appearance  of  self-glorification,  or  any 
omission  to  refer  to  the  work  in  the  world  that  others  are 
doing  for  Christ.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  tell  the 
story  of  The  General's  "  life  and  times,"  but  simply  to  note 
some  of  the  things  he  said  and  did  himself.  And  I  trust 
the  record  may  be  found  useful  by  all  the  many  servants  of 
God  who  do  not  think  exactly  as  he  thought,  but  who  yet 
rejoiced  in  the  triumphs  of  the  Cross  through  his  labours. 

To  continue  and  to  amplify  the  results  of  his  work  must 
needs  be  my  continual  aim.  I  am  full  of  hope  that  this 
book  may  bring  me  some  help,  not  only  towards  his  Me- 
morial Scheme,  which  contemplates  the  erection  and  equip- 
ment in  London  and  other  Capitals  of  enlarged  premises  for 
the  Training  of  Officers  in  every  branch  of  the  work,  or 
where  they  already  have  such  buildings,  the  erection  of  new 
Headquarters  or  Halls;  but  towards  the  maintenance  and 
extension  in  every  land  of  the  work  he  began. 

It  cannot  but  be  a  special  gratification  to  me  to  know  that 
this  book  will  be  received  with  eager  affection  in  almost 


PREFACE 

every  part  of  the  world.  How  could  it  ever  cease  to  be  my 
greatest  joy  to  strive  more  and  more  after  my  Father's  ideal 
of  linking  together  men  and  women  of  every  land  and  race 
in  one  grand  competition  for  the  extinction  of  selfishness  by 
the  enlistment  of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  in  one 
Great  Holy  War  for  God  and  for  all  that  is  good? 

Whether  those  into  whose  hands  this  volume  falls,  agree 
or  not  with  the  teachings  of  The  Salvation  Army,  may  God 
grant  them  Grace  to  join  heartily  at  least  in  this,  my  Father's 
great  purpose,  and  so  help  me  to  attain  the  victory  for  which 
he  lived  and  died. 

W.  Bramwell  Booth. 
London  International  Headquarters 
of  The  Salvation  Army. 

November,  191 2. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  I 
Childhood  and  Poverty I 

Chapter  II 
Salvation   in  Youth 8 

Chapter  III 
Lay  Ministry i6 

Chapter  IV 
Early  Ministry 25 

Chapter  V 
Fight    Against    Formality 39 

Chapter  VI 
Revivalism 48 

Chapter  VII 

East  London  Beginning 55 

Chapter  VIII 
Army-making 65 

Chapter  IX 
Army  Leading 72 

Chapter  X 
Desperate  Fighting 83 

Chapter  XI 
Reproducing  the  Army  in  America 94 

Chapter  XII 

In  Australasia 107 

Chapter  XIII 

Women  and  Scandinavia 118 

Chapter  XIV 
Children  Conquerors  in  Holland  and  Elsewhere     ....  126 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  XV 
India  and  Devotees 136 

Chapter  XVI 
South   Africa   and   Colonisation 148 

Chapter  XVII 
Japanese  Heroism 163 

Chapter  XVIII 
Co-operating  With  Governments 169 

Chapter  XIX 
Conquering  Death 176 

Chapter  XX 
His  Social  Work 187 

Chapter  XXI 
Motoring   Triumphs 200 

Chapter  XXII 

Our   Financial    System 210 

Chapter  XXIII 

In  Germany  In  Old  Age 222 

Chapter  XXIV 

The    End 231 

Chapter  XXV 

Tributes 248 

Chapter  XXVI 

Organisation 276 

Chapter  XXVII 

The  Spirit  of  the  Army 287 

Chapter  XXVIII 

The  General  as  a  Writer 312 

Important   Events   Connected   with   the   General's   Life    and 
Work 326 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

William  iBooth Frontispiece 

OPrOSITE    PAGE 

Catherine  Booth 26 

General  Bramwell  Booth 98 

Mrs.  Bramwell  Booth 154 

Emma  Booth   Tucker 212 

Commander  Uiss  Booth 270 

Autograph  Page 320 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  LIFE  OF 

GENERAL 
WILLIAM  BOOTH 

FOUNDER  OF  THE  SALVATION  ARMY 


^ : . :  ;  \: 


Chapter  I 

CHILDHOOD  AND  POVERTY 

William  Booth  was  born  in  Nottingham,  England,  on 
April  lo,  1829,  and  was"letfr  at jthi r teen .  the  only  son  of 
a  widowed  and  impoverished  mother.  His  father  had 
been  one  of  those  builders  of  houses  who  so  rapidly  rose 
in  those  days  to  wealth,  but  who,  largely  employing  bor- 
rowed capital,  often  found  themselves  in  any  time  of  gen- 
eral scarcity  reduced  to  poverty. 

I  glory  in  the  fact  that  The  Generars  ancestry  has  never 
been  traced,  so  far  as  I  know,  beyond  his  grandfather.  I 
will  venture  to  say,  however,  that  his  forefathers  fought  J 
with  desperation  against  somebody  at  least  a  thousand 
years  ago.  Fighting  is  an  inveterate  habit  of  ours  in  Eng- 
land, and  another  renowned  general  has  just  been  recom- 
mending all  young  men  to  learn  to  shoot.  The  constant 
joy  and  pride  with  which  our  General  always  spoke  of  his 
mother  is  a  tribute  to  her  excellence,  as  well  as  the  best  pos- 
sible record  of  his  own  earliest  days.  Of  her  he  wrote, 
in  1893  :— 

"I  had  a  good  mother.  So  good  she  has  ever  appeared 
to  me  that  I  have  often  said  that  all  I  knew  of  her  life  seemed 
a  striking  contradiction  of  the  doctrine  of  human  depravity. 
In  my  youth  I  fully  accepted  that  doctrine,  and  I  do  not 
deny  it  now;  but  my  patient,  self-sacrificing  mother  always 
appeared  to  be  an  exception  to  the  rule. 

"I  loved  my  mother.  From  infancy  to  manhood  I  lived  in 
her.  Home  was  not  home  to  me  without  her.  I  do  not  re- 
member any  single  act  of  wilful  disobedience  to  her  wishes. 
When  my  father  died  I  was  so  passionately  attached  to  my 
mother  that  I  can  recollect  that,  deeply  though  I  felt  his 
loss,  my  grief  was  all  but  f orbidderrbythF^tKought  that  It  ^ 
w'as  not  my  mother  who  had  been  taken  from  me.    And  yet 


2  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

one  of  the  regrets  that  has  followed  me  to  the  present  hour 
is  that  I  did  not  sufficiently  value  the  treasure  while  I  pos- 
sessed it,  and  that  I  did  not  with  sufficient  tenderness  and 
assiduity  at  the  time,  attempt  the  impossible  task  of  repaying 
the  immeasurable  debt  I  owed  to  that  mother's  love. 
»  "  She  was  certainly  one  of  the  most  unselfish  beings  it  has 
*  been  my  lot  to  come  into  contact  with.  *  Never  mind  me '  was 
descriptive  of  her  whole  life  at  every  time,  in  every  place,  and 
under  every  circumstance.  To  make  others  happy  was  the 
end  of  all  her  thoughts  and  aims  with  regard  not  only  to  her 
children  but  to  her  domestics,  and  indeed  to  all  who  came 
within  her  influence.  To  remove  misery  was  her  delight.  J^o 
beggar  went  empty-handed  from  her  door.  The  sorrows  of 
any  poor  wretch  were  certain  of  her  commiseration,  and  of  a 
helping  hand  in  their  removal,  so  far  as  she  had  ability.  The 
children  of  misfortune  were  sure  of  her  pity,  and  the  children 
of  misconduct  she  pitied  almost  the  more,  because,  for  one 
reason,  they  were  the  cause  of  sorrow  to  those  who  had  rea- 
son to  mourn  on  their  account. 

"  For  many  years  before  she  died,  love,  joy,  and  peace 
reigned  in  her  heart,  beamed  from  her  countenance,  and  spoke 
in  her  words.  Her  faith  was  immovably  fixed  on  Him  who  is 
able  to  save  to  the  uttermost.  It  was  a  common  expression 
of  confidence  with  her  that  *  Jesus  would  go  with  her  all  the 
way  through  the  journey  of  life — even  to  the  end.  He  would 
not  leave  her.    Her  feet  were  on  the  Rock.' " 

To  this  testimony  to  his  mother's  worth  The  General 
added : — 

"  To  those  whose  eyes  may  fall  on  these  lines,  may  I  not  be 
excused  saying,  *  See  to  it  that  you  honour  your  father  and 
your  mother,  not  only  that  your  days  may  be  long  in  the  land, 
but  that  you  may  not,  in  after  years,  be  disturbed  by  useless 
longings  to  have  back  again  the  precious  ones  who  so  cease- 
lessly and  unselfishly  toiled  with  heart  and  brain  for  your 
profoundest  well-being.' 

"  My  mother  and  father  were  both  Derbyshire  people.  They 
were  born  within  a  few  miles  of  each  other,  the  former  at 
iSomercotes,  a  small  village  within  a  mile  or  two  of  Alfreton 
and  the  latter  at  Belper.  My  mother's  father  was  a  well-to-do 
farmer.    Her  mother  died  when  she  was  three  years  of  age; 


CHILDHOOD  AND  POVERTY  3 

and,  her  father  marrying  again,  she  was  taken  to  the  heart 
and  home  of  a  kind  uncle  and  aunt,  who  reared  and  educated 
her,  giving  her  at  the  same  time  a  sound  reHgious  training. 

"Years  passed  of  which  we  have  but  imperfect  knowledge 
during  which,  by  some  means,  she  drifted  to  the  small  town 
of  Ashby-de-la-Zouch.  Here  she  met  my  father,  who  was 
availing  himself  of  the  waters  as  a  remedy  for  his  chronic 
enemy,  rheumatism.  He  offered  her  marriage.  She  refused. 
He  left  the  town  indignant,  but  returned  to  renew  his  proposal, 
which  she  ultimately  accepted.  Their  marriage  followed.  Up 
to  this  date  her  path  through  life  had  been  comparatively  a 
smooth  one;  but  from  this  hour  onward  through  many  long 
and  painful  years,  it  was  crowded  with  difficulties  and  anxie- 
ties. 

"My  father's  fortunes  appear  to  have  begun  to  wane  soon 
after  his  marriage.  At  that  time  he  would  have  passed,  I 
suppose,  for  a  rich  man,  according  to  the  estimate  of  riches 
in  those  days.  But  bad  times  came,  and  very  bad  times  they 
were,  such  as  we  know  little  about,  despite  all  the  grumbling 
of  this  modern  era.  Nottingham,  where  the  family  was  then 
located,  suffered  heavily,  a  large  proportion  of  its  poorer 
classes  being  reduced  to  the  verge  of  starvation.  My  father, 
who  had  invested  the  entire  savings  of  his  lifetime  in  small 
house  property,  was  seriously  affected  by  these  calamitous  cir- 
cumstances; in  fact,  he  was  ruined. 

"  The  brave  way  in  which  my  mother  stood  by  his  side  dur- 
ing that  dark  and  sorrowful  season  is  indelibly  written  on  my 
memory.  She  shared  his  every  anxiety,  advised  him  in  all  his 
business  perplexities,  and  upheld  his  spirit  as  crash  followed 
crash,  and  one  piece  of  property  after  another  went  overboard. 
Years  of  heavy  affliction  followed,  during  which  she  was  his 
tender,  untiring  nurse,  comforting  and  upholding  his  spirit 
unto  death ;  and  then  she  stood  out  all  alone  to  fight  the  battles 
of  his  children  amidst  the  wreck  of  his  fortunes. 

"  Those  days  were  gloomy  indeed ;  and  the  wonder  now  in 
looking  back  upon  them  is  that  she  survived  them.  It  would 
have  seemed  a  perfectly  natural  thing  if  she  had  died  of  a 
broken  heart,  and  been  borne  away  to  lie  in  my  father's  grave. 

"  But  she  had  reasons  for  living.  Her  children  bound  her 
to  earth,  and  for  our  sakes  she  toiled  on  with  unswerving  de- 
votion and  unintermitting  care.  After  a  time  the  waters  found 
a  smoother  channel,  so  far  as  this  world's  troubles  were  con- 


4  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

cerned,  and  her  days  were  ended,  in  her  eighty-fifth  year,  in 
comparative  peace." 

"  During  one  of  my  Motor  Campaigns  to  Nottingham,"  The 
General  wrote  on  another  occasion,  "my  car  took  me  over 
the  Trent,  the  dear  old  river  along  whose  banks  I  used  to 
wander  in  my  boyhood  days,  sometimes  poring  over  Young's 
Night  Thoughts,  reading  Henry  Kirke  White's  Poems,  or,  as 
was  frequently  the  case  before  my  conversion,  with  a  fishing- 
rod  in  my  hand. 

"  In  those  days  angling  was  my  favourite  sport.  I  have  sat 
down  on  those  banks  many  a  summer  morning  at  five  o'clock, 
although  I  rarely  caught  anything.  An  old  uncle  ironically 
used  to  have  a  plate  with  a  napkin  on  it  ready  for  my  catch 
waiting  for  me  on  my  return. 

"And  then  the  motor  brought  us  to  the  ancient  village  of 

Wilford,  with  its  lovely  old  avenues  of  elms  fringing  the  river. 

i     "  There  were  the  very  meadows  in  which  we  children  used 

fto  revel  amongst  the  bluebells  and  crocuses  which,  in  those 

^days,  spread  out  their  beautiful  carpet  in  the  spring-time,  to 

Ahe  unspeakable  delight  of  the  youngsters  from  the  town. 

I     "  But  how  changed  the  scene !     Most  of  these  rural  charms 

{had  fled,  and  in  their  places  were  collieries  and  factories,  and 

Imachine  shops,   and   streets   upon   streets  of  houses   for  the 

'employes  of  the  growing  town.    We  were  only  60,000  in  my 

Iboyhood,  whereas  the  citizens  of  Nottingham  to-day  number 

^50,000. 

"A  few  years  ago  the  city  conferred  its  freedom  upon  me 
as  a  mark  of  appreciation  and  esteem.    To  God  be  all  the 
glory  that  He  has  helped  His  poor  boy  to  live  for  Him,  and 
made  even  his  former  enemies  to  honour  him." 
'> 

But  we  all  know  what  sort  of  influences  exist  in  a  city 
that  is  at  once  the  capital  of  a  county  and  a  commercial 
centre.  The  homes  of  the  wealthy  and  comfortable  are 
found  at  no  great  distance  from  the  dwellings  of  the  poor, 
while  in  the  huge  market-places  are  exhibitions  weekly  of 
all  the  contrasts  between  town  and  country  life,  between 
the  extremest  want  and  the  most  lavish  plenty. 

Seventy  years  ago,  life  in  such  a  city  was  nearly  as  dif- 
ferent from  what  it  is  to-day  as  the  life  of  to-day  in  an 
American  state  capital  is  from  that  of  a  Chinese  town. 


CHILDHOOD  AND  POVERTY  5 

Between  the  small  circle  of  "  old  families"  who  still  pos- 
sessed widespread  influence  and  the  masses  of  the  people 
there  was  a  wide  gap.  The  few  respectable  charities,  gen- 
erally due  to  the  piety  of  some  long-departed  citizen, 
marked  out  very  strikingly  a  certain  number  of  those  who 
were  considered  "  deserving  poor,'*  and  helped  to  make 
every  one  less  concerned  about  all  the  rest.  For  all  the 
many  thousands  struggling  day  and  night  to  keep  them- 
selves and  those  dependent  upon  them  from  starvation, 
there  was  little  or  no  pity.  It  was  just  "  their  lot,"  and 
they  were  taught  to  consider  it  their  duty  to  be  content  with 
it.  To  envy  their  richer  neighbours,  to  covet  anything 
they  possessed,  was  a  sin  that  would  only  ensure  for  the 
coveter  an  eternal  and  aggravated  continuance  of  his  pres- 
ent thirst. 

In  describing  those  early  years,  The  General  said: — 

"  Before  my  father's  death  I  had  been  apprenticed  by  his 
wish.  I  was  very  young,  only  thirteen  years  of  age,  but  he 
could  not  afford  to  keep  me  longer  at  school,  and  so  out  into 
the  world  I  must  go.  This  event  was  followed  by  the  forma- 
tion of  companionships  whose  influence  was  anything  but 
beneficial.  .1  went  down  hill  morally,  and  the  consequences 
might  have  been  serious  if  not  eternally  disastrous,  but  that 
the  hand  of  God  was  laid  on  me  in  a  very  remarkable  manner. 

"  I  had  scarcely  any  income  as  an  apprentice,  and  was  so 
hard  up  when  my  father  died,  that  I  could  do  next  to  nothing 
to  assist  my  dear  mother  and  sisters,  which  was  the  cause  of 
no  little  humiliation  and  grief. 

"The  system  of  apprenticeship  in  those  days  generally 
bound  a  lad  for  six  or  seven  years.  During  this  time  he 
received  little  or  no  wages,  and  was  required  to  slave  from 
early  morning  to  late  evening  upon  the  supposition  that  he 
was  'being  taught'  the  business,  which,  if  he  had  a  good 
master,  was  probably  true.  It  was  a  severe  but  useful  time 
of  learning.  My  master  was  a  Unitarian — that  is,  he  did  not 
believe  Christ  was  the  son  of  God  and  the  Saviour  of  the 
world,  but  only  the  best  of  teachers;  yet  so  little  had  he 
learnt  of  Him  that  his  heaven  consisted  in  making  money, 
strutting  about  with  his  gay  wife,  and  regaling  himself  with 
worldly  amusements. 


GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"At  nineteen  the  weary  years  of  my  apprenticeship  came 
to  an  end.  I  had  done  my  six  years'  service,  and  was  heartily 
glad  to  be  free  from  the  humiliating  bondage  they  had  proved. 
I  tried  hard  to  find  some  kind  of  labour  that  would  give  me 
more  liberty  to  carry  out  the  aggressive  ideas  which  I  had  by 
this  time  come  to  entertain  as  to  saving  the  lost;  but  I  failed. 
For  twelve  months  I  waited.  Those  months  were  among  the 
most  desolate  of  my  life.  No  one  took  the  slightest  interest 
in  me. 

"  Failing  to  find  employment  in  Nottingham,  I  had  to  move 
away.  I  was  loath,  very  loath,  to  leave  my  dear  widowed 
mother  and  my  native  town,  but  I  was  compelled  to  do  so, 
and  to  come  to  London.  In  the  great  city  I  felt  myself  unut- 
terably alone.  I  did  not  know  a  soul  excepting  a  brother-in- 
law,  with  whom  I  had  not  a  particle  of  communion. 

"  In  many  respects  my  new  master  very  closely  resembled 
the  old  one.  In  one  particular,  however,  he  differed  from 
him  very  materially,  and  that  was  he  made  a  great  profession 
of  religion.  He  believed  in  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
in  the  Church  of  which  he  was  a  member,  but  seemed  to  be 
utterly  ignorant  of  either  the  theory  or  practice  of  experi- 
mental godliness.  To  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  dead  world 
around  him  he  was  as  indifferent  as  were  the  vicious  crowds 
themselves  whom  he  so  heartily  despised.  All  he  seemed  to 
me  to  want  was  to  make  money,  and  all  he  seemed  to  want 
me  for  was  to  help  him  in  the  sordid  selfish  task. 

"  So  it  was  work,  work,  work,  morning,  noon,  and  night. 
I  was  practically  a  white  slave,  being  only  allowed  my  liberty 
on  Sundays,  and  an  hour  or  two  one  night  in  the  week,  and 
even  then  the  rule  was  *  Home  by  ten  o'clock,  or  the  door  will 
be  locked  against  you.'  This  law  was  rigidly  enforced  in  my 
case,  although  my  employer  knew  that  I  travelled  long  dis- 
tances preaching  the  Gospel  in  which  he  and  his  wife  pro- 
fessed so  loudly  to  believe.  To  get  home  in  time,  many  a 
Sunday  night  I  have  had  to  run  long  distances,  after  walking 
for  miles,  and  preaching  twice  during  the  day." 

The  contrast  between  those  days  and  ours  can  hardly  be 
realised  by  any  of  us  now.     We  may  put  down  almost  in 
figures  some  of  the  differences  that  steam  and  electricity 
have  made,  linking  all  mankind  together  more  closely  than^ 
Nottingham  was  then  connected  with  London.     But  what 


CHILDHOOD  AND  POVERTY  7 

words  can  convey  any  picture  of  the  development  of  intel- 
ligence and  sympathy  that  makes  an  occurrence  in  a  Lon- 
don back  street  interest  the  reading  inhabitants  of  Germany, 
America,  and  Australia  as  intense  as  those  of  our  own 
country  ? 

What  a  consolation  it  would  have  been  to  the  apprentice 
lad,  could  he  have  known  how  all  his  daily  drudgery  was 
fitting  him  to  understand,  to  comfort,  and  to  help  the  toil- 
ing masses  of  every  race  and  clime? 

In  the  wonderful  providence  of  God  all  these  changes 
have  been  allowed  to  leave  England  in  as  dominating  a 
position  as  she  held  when  William  Booth  was  born,  if  not 
to  enhance  her  greatness  and  power,  far  as  some  may  con- 
sider beyond  what  she  deserved.  And  yet  all  the  time, 
with  or  without  our  choice,  our  own  activities,  and  even 
our  faults  and  neglects,  have  been  helping  other  peoples, 
some  of  them  born  on  our  soil,  to  become  our  rivals  in 
everything.  Happily  the  multiplication  of  plans  of  inter- 
course is  now  merging  the  whole  human  race  so  much  into 
one  community  that  one  may  hope  yet  to  see  the  dawn  of 
that  fraternity  of  peoples  which  may  end  the  present  pros- 
pects of  wars  unparalleled  in  the  past.  How  very  much 
William  Booth  has  contributed  to  bring  that  universal 
brotherhood  about  this  book  may  suffice  to  hint. 


1/ 


Chapter  II 

SALVATION  IN  YOUTH 

In  convincing  him  that  goodness  was  the  only  safe  pass- 
port to  peace  and  prosperity  of  any  lasting  kind,  William 
Booth's  mother  had  happily  laid  in  the  heart  of  her  boy  the 
best  foundation  for  a  happy  life,  "  Be  good,  William,  and 
then  all  will  be  well,"  she  had  said  to  him  over  and  over 
again. 

But  how  was  he  to  "  be  good  "  ?  The  English  National 
Church,  eighty  years  ago,  had  reached  a  depth  of  cold  for- 
mality and  uselessness  which  can  hardly  be  imagined  now. 
Nowhere  was  this  more  manifest  than  in  the  "  parish  " 
church.  The  rich  had  their  allotted  pew,  a  sort  of  re- 
served seat,  into  which  no  stranger  dare  enter,  deserted 
though  it  might  be  by  its  holders  for  months  together.  For 
the  poor,  seats  were  in  some  churches  placed  in  the  broad 
aisles  or  at  the  back  of  the  pulpit,  so  conspicuously  marking 
out  the  inferiority  of  all  who  sat  in  them  as  almost  to  sen'e 
as  a  notice  to  every  one  that  the  ideas  of  Jesus  Christ  had 
no  place  there.  Even  when  an  earnest  clergyman  came  to 
any  church,  he  had  really  a  battle  against  great  prejudices 
on  both  sides  if  he  wished  to  make  any  of  "  the  common 
people  "  feel  welcome  at  "  common  prayer."  But  the  way 
the  appointed  services  were  **  gone  through  "  was  only  too 
often  such  as  to  make  every  one  look  upon  the  whole  mat- 
ter as  one  which  only  concerned  the  clergy.  Especially  was 
this  the  effect  on  young  people.  Anything  like  interest,  or 
pleasure,  in  those  dull  and  dreary,  not  to  say  "  vain  "  repe- 
titions on  their  part  must  indeed  have  been  rare. 

It  is  not  surprising  then  that  William  Booth  saw  nothing 
to  attract  him  in  the  Church  of  his  fathers.  John  Wesley, 
that  giant  reformer  of  religion  in  England,  had  been  dead 
some  forty  years,  and  his  life-work  had  not  been  allowed 

8 


SALVATION  IN  YOUTH  9 

to  affect  "  the  Church  "  very  profoundly.  His  followers 
having  seceded  from  it  contrary  to  his  orders  and  entreaties, 
had  already  made  several  sects,  and  in  the  chief  of  these 
William  Booth  presently  found  for  himself  at  least  a  tem- 
porary home.  Here  the  services  were,  to  some  extent,  in- 
dependent of  books;  earnest  preaching  of  the  truth  was 
often  heard  from  the  pulpits,  and  some  degree  of  real  con- 
cern for  the  spiritual  advancement  of  the  people  was  mani- 
fested by  the  preachers. 

Under  this  preaching  and  these  influences,  and  the  sing- 
ing of  Wesley's  hymns,  the  lad  was  deeply  moved.  To 
his  last  days  he  sang  some  of  those  grand  old  songs  as  much 
as,  if  not  more  than,  any  others;  that  one,  for  example, 
containing  the  verse : — 

And  can  I  yet  delay  my  little  all  to  give? 

To  tear  my  soul  from  earth  away,  for  Jesus  to  receive? 

Nay,  but  I  yield,  I  yield!  I  can  hold  out  no  more, 

I  sink,  by  dying  love  compelled,  and  own  Thee  conqueror. 

The  mind  that  has  never  yet  come  in  contact  with  teach- 
ing of  this  character  can  scarcely  comprehend  the  effect 
of  such  thoughts  on  a  young  and  ardent  soul.  This  Jesus, 
w^ho  gave  up  Heaven  and  all  that  was  bright  and  pleasant 
to  devote  Himself  to  the  world's  Salvation,  was  presented 
to  him  as  coming  to  ask  the  surrender  of  his  heart  and 
life  to  His  service,  and  his  heart  could  not  long  resist  the 
appeal.  It  was  in  no  large  congregation,  however,  but  in 
one  of  the  smaller  Meetings  that  William  Booth  made  the 
glorious  sacrifice  of  himself  which  he  had  been  made  to 
understand  was  indispensable  to  real  religion.  Speaking 
some  time  ago,  he  thus  described  that  great  change: — 

"When  as  a  giddy  youth  of  fifteen  I  was  led  to  attend 
Wesley  Chapel,  Nottingham,  I  cannot  recollect  that  any  indi- 
vidual pressed  me  in  the  direction  of  personal  surrender  to 
God.  I  was  wrought  upon  quite  independently  of  human  effort 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  created  within  me  a  great  thirst  for 
a  new   life. 

"  I  felt  that  I  wanted,  in  place  of  the  life  of  self-indulgence, 


10  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

to  which  I  was  yielding  myself,  a  happy,  conscious  sense  that 
I  was  pleasing  God,  living  right,  and  spending  all  my  powers 
to  get  others  into  such  a  life.  I  saw  that  all  this  ought  to  be, 
and  I  decided  that  it  should  be.  It  is  wonderful  that  I  should 
have  reached  this  decision  in  view  of  all  the  influences  then 
around  me.  My  professedly  Christian  master  never  uttered 
a  word  to  indicate  that  he  believed  in  anything  he  could  not 
see,  and  many  of  my  companions  were  worldly  and  sensual, 
some  of  them  even  vicious. 

"Yet  I  had  that  instinctive  belief  in  God  which,  in  common 
with  my  fellow-creatures,  I  had  brought  into  the  world  with 
me.  I  had  no  disposition  to  deny  my  instincts,  which  told  me 
that  if  there  was  a  God  His  laws  ought  to  have  my  obedience 
and  His  interests  my  service. 

"  I  felt  that  it  was  better  to  live  right  than  to  live  wrong, 
^  and  as  to  caring  for  the  interests  of  others  instead  of  my  own, 
the  condition  of  the  suffering  people  around  me,  people  with 
whom  I  had  been  so  long  familiar,  and  whose  agony  seemed 
to  reach  its  climax  about  this  time,  undoubtedly  affected  me 
very  deeply. 

"  There  were  children  crying  for  bread  to  parents  whose 
own  distress  was  little  less  terrible  to  witness. 

"One  feeling  specially  forced  itself  upon  me,  and  I  can 
recollect  it  as  distinctly  as  though  it  had  transpired  only  yes- 
terday, and  that  was  the  sense  of  the  folly  of  spending  my  life 
in  doing  things  for  which  I  knew  I  must  either  repent  or  be 
punished  in  the  days  to  come. 

"  In  my  anxiety  to  get  into  the  right  way,  I  joined  the 
Methodist  Church,  and  attended  the  Class  Meetings,  to  sing 
and  pray  and  speak  with  the  rest."  (A  Class  Meeting  was 
the  weekly  muster  of  all  members  of  the  church,  who  were 
expected  to  tell  their  leader  something  of  their  soul's  condi- 
tion in  answer  to  his  inquiries.)  "  But  all  the  time  the  inward 
Light  revealed  to  me  that  I  must  not  only  renounce  everything 
I  knew  to  be  sinful,  but  make  restitution,  so  far  as  I  had  the 
ability,  for  any  wrong  I  had  done  to  others  before  I  could 
find  peace  with  God. 

"  The  entrance  to  the  Heavenly  Kingdom  was  closed  against 
me  by  an  evil  act  of  the  past  which  required  restitution.  In 
a  boyish  trading  affair  I  had  managed  to  make  a  profit  out  of 
my  companions,  whilst  giving  them  to  suppose  that  what  I 
did  was  all  in  the  way  of  a  generous  fellowship.    As  a  testi- 


SALVATION  IN  YOUTH  11 

monial  of  their  gratitude  they  had  given  me  a  silver  pencil- 
case.  Merely  to  return  their  gift  would  have  been  compara- 
tively easy,  but  to  confess  the  deception  I  had  practised  upon 
them  was  a  humiliation  to  which  for  some  days  I  could  not 
bring  myself. 

"  I  remember,  as  if  it  were  but  yesterday,  the  spot  in  the 
corner  of  a  room  under  the  chapel,  the  hour,  the  resolution  to 
end  the  matter,  the  rising  up  and  rushing  forth,  the  finding 
of  the  young  fellow  I  had  chiefly  wronged,  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  my  sin,  the  return  of  the  pencil-case — the  instant 
rolling  away  from  my  heart  of  the  guilty  burden,  the  peace 
that  came  in  its  place,  and  the  going  forth  to  serve  my  God 
and  my  generation  from  that  hour. 

"  It  was  in  the  open  street  that  this  great  change  passed 
over  me,  and  if  I  could  only  have  possessed  the  flagstone  on 
which  I  stood  at  that  happy  moment,  the  sight  of  it  occasion- 
ally might  have  been  as  useful  to  me  as  the  stones  carried  up 
long  ago  from  the  bed  of  the  Jordan  were  to  the  Israelites 
who  had  passed  over  them  dry-shod. 

"  Since  that  night,  for  it  was  near  upon  eleven  o'clock  when 
the  happy  change  was  realised,  the  business  of  my  life  has 
been  not  only  to  make  a  holy  character  but  to  live  a  life  of 
loving  activity  in  the  service  of  God  and  man.  I  have  ever 
felt  that  true  religion  consists  not  only  in  being  holy  myself, 
but  in  assisting  my  Crucified  Lord  in  His  work  of  saving  men 
and  women,  making  them  into  His  Soldiers,  keeping  them 
faithful  to  death,  and  so  getting  them  into  Heaven. 

"I  have  had  to  encounter  all  sorts  of  difficulties  as  I  have 
travelled  along  this  road.  The  world  has  been  against  me, 
sometimes  very  intensely,  and  often  very  stupidly.  I  have 
had  difficulties  similar  to  those  of  other  men,  with  my  own 
bodily  appetites,  with  my  mental  disposition,  and  with  my  nat- 
ural unbelief. 

"  Many  people,  both  religious  and  irreligious,  are  apt  to 
think  that  they  are  more  unfavourably  constituted  than  their 
comrades  and  neighbours,  and  that  their  circumstances  and 
surroundings  are  peculiarly  unfriendly  to  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  they  owe  to  God  and  man. 

"  I  have  been  no  exception  in  this  matter.  Many  a  time 
I  have  been  tempted  to  say  to  myself,  *  There  is  no  one  fixed 
so  awkwardly  for  holy  living  and  faithful  fighting  as  I  am.' 
But  I  have  been  encouraged  to  resist  the  delusion  by  remem- 


12  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

bering  the  words  of  the  Apostle  Paul :  '  There  hath  no  tempta- 
tion taken  you  but  such  as  is  common  to  man.' 

"  I  am  not  pretending  to  say  that  I  have  worked  harder,  or 
practised  more  self-denial,  or  endured  more  hardships  at  any 
particular  time  of  my  life  than  have  those  around  me;  but  I 
do  want  those  who  feel  any  interest  in  me  to  understand  that 
faithfulness  to  God  in  the  discharge  of  duty  and  the  main- 
tenance of  a  good  conscience  have  cost  me  as  severe  a  strug- 
gle as  they  can  cost  any  Salvation  Soldier  in  London,  Berlin, 
Paris,  New  York,  or  Tokio  to-day. 

"One  reason  for  the  victory  I  daily  gained  from  the  mo- 
ment of  my  conversion  was,  no  doubt,  my  complete  and  imme- 
diate separation  from  the  godless  world.  I  turned  my  back 
on  it  I  gave  it  up,  having  made  up  my  mind  beforehand  that 
if  I  did  go  in  for  God  I  would  do  so  with  all  my  might. 
Rather  than  yearning  for  the  world's  pleasures,  books,  gains, 
or  recreations,  I  found  my  new  nature  leading  me  to  come 
away  from  it  all.  It  had  lost  all  charm  for  me.  What  were 
all  the  novels,  even  those  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  or  Fenimore 
Cooper,  compared  with  the  story  of  my  Saviour?  What  were 
the  choicest  orators  compared  with  Paul?  What  was  the  hope 
of  money-earning,  even  with  all  my  desire  to  help  my  poor 
mother  and  sisters,  in  comparison  with  the  imperishable  wealth 
of  ingathered  souls?  I  soon  began  to  despise  everything  the 
world  had  to  offer  me. 

"In  those  days  I  felt,  as  I  believe  many  Converts  do,  that 
I  could  willingly  and  joyfully  travel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth 
for  Jesus  Christ,  and  suffer  anything  imaginable  to  help  the 
souls  of  other  men.  Jesus  Christ  had  baptised  me,  according 
to  His  eternal  promise,  with  His  Spirit  and  with  Fire. 

"Yet  the  surroundings  of  my  early  life  were  all  in  opposi- 
tion to  this  whole-hearted  devotion.  No  one  at  first  took  me 
by  the  hand  and  urged  me  forward,  or  gave  me  any  instruc- 
tion or  hint  likely  to  help  me  in  the  difficulties  I  had  at  once 
to  encounter  in  my  consecration  to  this  service." 

Tkis  clear  experience  and  teaching  of  an  absolutely  new 
life,  that  "  eternal  life  "  which  Jesus  Christ  promises  to  all 
His  true  followers,  is  indispensable  to  the  right  understand- 
ing of  everything  in  connexion  with  the  career  we  are  re- 
cording. Without  such  an  experience  nothing  of  what 
follows  could  have  been  possible.     With  it  the  continual 


SALVATION  IN  YOUTH  13 

resistance  to  every  contrary  teaching  and  influence,  and 
the  strenuous  struggle  by  all  possible  means  to  propagate 
it  are  inevitable. 

One  is  amazed  at  this  time  of  day,  to  find  intelligent  men 
writing  as  though  there  v^ere  some  mysticism,  or  some- 
thing quite  beyond  ordinary  understanding,  in  this  theory 
of  conversion,  or  regeneration. 

Precisely  the  process  which  The  General  thus  describes 
in  his  own  case  must  of  necessity  follow  any  thoughtful 
and  prayerful  consideration  of  the  mission  and  Gospel  of 
Christ.  Either  we  must  reject  the  whole  Bible  story  or 
we  must  admit  that  *'  all  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray," 
taking  our  own  course,  in  contempt  of  God's  wishes.  To 
be  convinced  of  that  must  plunge  any  soul  into  just  such  a 
depth  of  sorrow  and  anxiety  as  left  this  lad  no  rest  until 
he  had  found  peace  in  submission  to  his  God.  No  outside 
influences  or  appearances  can  either  produce  or  be  substi- 
tuted for  the  deep,  inward  resolve  of  the  wandering  soul, 
"  I  will  arise,  and  go  to  my  Father."  Whether  that  de- 
cision be  come  to  in  some  crowded  Meeting,  or  in 
the  loneliness  of  some  midnight  hour  is  quite  unim- 
portant. But  how  can  there  be  true  repentance,  or  the 
beginning  of  reconciliation  with  God,  until  that  point  is 
reached  ? 

And  whenever  that  returning  to  God  takes  place,  there 
is  the  same  abundant  pardon,  the  same  change  of  heart, 
the  same  new  birth,  which  has  here  been  described.  What 
can  be  more  simple  and  matter  of  fact?  Take  away  the 
need  and  possibility  of  such  "  conversion,"  and  this  whole 
life  becomes  a  delusion,  and  the  proclamation  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  a  Saviour  of  men  inexcusable.  What  has  created 
any  mystery  around  the  question  amongst  Christians,  if 
not  the  sacramental  theory,  which  more  or  less  contradicts 
it  all?  In  almost  all  Christian  Churches  a  theory  is  set  up 
that  a  baby  by  some  ceremonial  act  becomes  suddenly  re- 
generated, "  made  a  child  of  God,  and  an  heir  of  His  King- 
dom." 

If  that  were  the  case,  there  could,  of  course,  have  been 
no  need  for  the  later  regeneration  of  that  child;  but  I  do 


14.  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

not  believe  that  an  ecclesiastic  could  be  found,  from  the 
Vatican  to  the  most  remote  island-parish  where  children 
are  "  christened,"  who  would  profess  to  have  seen  such  a 
regenerated  child  alive.  There  is  notoriously  no  such 
change  accomplished  in  any  one,  until  the  individual  him- 
self, convinced  of  his  own  godless  condition,  cries  to  God 
for  His  Salvation,  and  receives  that  great  gift. 

What  a  foundation  for  life  was  the  certainty  which  that 
lad  got  as  he  knelt  in  that  little  room  in  Nottingham! 
Into  that  same  "  full  assurance  "  he  was  later  on  to  lead 
many  millions — ^young  and  old — of  many  lands.  The  sim- 
ple Army  verse : — 

I  know  my  sins  are  all  forgiven. 

Glory  to  the  Bleeding  Lamb! 
And  I  ant  on  my  way  to  Heaven, 

Glory  to  the  Bleeding  Lamb! 

embalms  for  ever  that  grand  starting-point  of  the  soul, 
from  which  our  people  have  been  able,  in  ignorance  of  al- 
most everything  else  of  Divine  truth,  to  commence  a  career 
of  holy  living,  and  of  loving  effort  for  the  souls  of  others. 

How  much  more  weight  those  few  words  carry  than  the 
most  eloquent  address  bereft  of  that  certainty  of  tone  could 
ever  have! 

That  certainty  which  rests  not  upon  any  study  of  books, 
even  of  the  Bible  itself,  but  upon  the  soul's  own  believing 
vision  of  the  Lamb  of  God  who  has  taken  its  sins  away; 
that  certainty  which  changes  in  a  moment  the  prison  dark- 
ness of  the  sin-chained  into  the  light  and  joy  and  power  of 
the  liberated  slave  of  Christ;  that  is  the  great  conquest  of 
the  Salvation  Soldier  everywhere. 

And  yet,  perhaps,  in  the  eyes  of  an  unbelieving  world, 
and  a  doubting  Church,  that  was  General  Booth's  great 
offence  all  through  life.  To  think  of  having  uneducated 
and  formerly  godless  people  "bawling"  the  "  mysteries  of 
the  faith  "  through  the  streets  of  "  Christian  "  cities,  where 
it  had  hitherto  been  thought  inconsistent  with  Christian 
humility  for  any  one  to  dare  to  say  they  really  knew  Him 


SALVATION  IN  YOUTH  15 

"  whom  to  know  is  life  eternal " !  Oh,  that  was  the  root 
objection  to  all  The  General's  preaching  and  action. 

And  it  was  one  of  the  most  valuable  features  of  his 
whole  career  that  wherever  he  or  his  messengers  went  there 
came  that  same  certainty  which  from  the  days  of  Bethle- 
hem onwards  Jesus  Christ  came  to  bring  to  every  man. 

"  By  faith  we  know! "  If  every  outward  manifestation 
of  The  General's  successes  could  be  swept  off  the  world 
to-morrow,  this  positive  faith  in  the  one  Saviour  would  be 
capable  of  reproducing  all  its  blessed  results  over  again, 
wherever  it  was  preserved,  or  renewed.  Any  so-called 
faith  which  gives  no  certainty  must  needs  be  hustled  out 
of  the  way  of  an  investigating,  hurrying,  wealth-seeking 
age.  Only  those  who  are  certain  that  they  have  found  the 
Lord  can  be  capable  of  inducing  others  to  seek  and  find  Him. 


Chapter  III 

LAY  MINISTRY 

Convictions  such  as  we  have  just  been  reading  of  were 
bound  to  lead  to  immediate  action.  But  it  is  most  interest- 
ing to  find  that  WilHam  Booth's  first  regular  service  for 
Christ  was  not  called  forth  by  any  church,  but  simply  by 
the  spontaneous  efforts  of  one  or  two  young  Converts  like 
himself.  No  one  could  be  more  inclined  towards  the  use 
of  organisation  and  system  than  he  always  was,  and  yet 
he  always  advocated  an  organisation  so  open  to  all,  and  a 
system  so  elastic,  that  zeal  might  never  be  repressed,  but 
only  made  the  most  of.  It  is,  perhaps,  fortunate  that  we 
have  in  one  of  his  addresses  to  his  own  young  Officers  the 
following  description  of  the  way  he  began  to  work  for  the 
Salvation  of  his  fellow-townsmen: — 

"  Directly  after  my  conversion  I  had  a  bad  attack  of  fever, 
and  was  brought  to  the  very  edge  of  the  grave.  But  God 
raised  me  up,  and  led  me  out  to  work  for  Him,  after  a  fash- 
ion which,  considering  my  youth  and  inexperience,  must  be 
pronounced  remarkable.  While  recovering  from  this  illness, 
which  left  me  far  from  strong,  I  received  a  note  from  a  com- 
panion. Will  Sansom,  asking  me  to  make  haste  and  get  well 
again,  and  help  him  in  a  Mission  he  had  started  in  a  slum 
part  of  the  town.  No  sooner  was  I  able  to  get  about  than  I 
gladly  joined  him. 

"  The  Meetings  we  held  were  very  remarkable  for  those 
days.  We  used  to  take  out  a  chair  into  the  street,  and  one  of 
us  mounting  it  would  give  out  a  hymn,  which  we  then  sang 
with  the  help  of,  at  the  most,  three  or  four  people.  Then  I 
would  talk  to  the  people,  and  invite  them  to  come  with  us  to 
a  Meeting  in  one  of  the  houses. 

"  How  I  worked  in  those  days !  Remember  that  I  was  only 
an  apprentice  lad  of  fifteen  or  sixteen.  I  used  to  leave  busi- 
ness at  7  o'clock,  or  soon  after,  and  go  visiting  the  sick,  then 

i6 


LAY  MINISTRY  It 

these  street  Meetings,  and  afterwards  to  some  Meeting  in  a 
cottage,  where  we  would  often  get  some  one  saved.  After 
the  Meeting  I  would  often  go  to  see  some  dying  person,  arriv- 
ing home  about  midnight  to  rest  all  I  could  before  rising  next 
morning  in  time  to  reach  my  place  of  business  at  7  a.  m. 
That  was  sharp  exercise!  How  I  can  remember  rushing 
along  the  streets  during  my  forty  minutes'  dinner-time,  read- 
ing the  Bible  or  C.  G.  Finney's  Lectures  on  Revivals  of  Reli- 
gion as  I  went,  careful,  too,  not  to  be  a  minute  late.  And  at 
this  time  I  was  far  from  strong  physically;  but  full  of  diffi- 
culties as  those  days  were,  they  were  nevertheless  wonderful 
seasons  of  blessing,  and  left  pleasant  memories  that  endure  to 
this  hour. 

"  The  leading  men  of  the  church  to  which  I  belonged  were 
afraid  I  was  going  too  fast,  and  gave  me  plenty  of  cautions, 
quaking  and  fearing  at  my  every  new  departure;  but  none 
gave  me  a  word  of  encouragement.  And  yet  the  Society  of 
which  for  those  six  apprentice  years  I  was  a  faithful  member, 
was  literally  my  heaven  on  earth.  Truly,  I  thought  then  there 
was  one  God,  that  John  Wesley  was  His  prophet,  and  that 
the  Methodists  were  His  special  people.  The  church  was  at 
the  time,  I  believe,  one  thousand  members  strong.  Much  as 
I  loved  them,  however,  I  mingled  but  little  with  them,  and 
had  time  for  but  few  of  their  great  gatherings,  having  chosen 
the  Meadow  Platts  as  my  parish,  because  my  heart  then  as  now 
went  out  after  the  poorest  of  the  poor. 

"  Thus  my  conversion  made  me,  in  a  moment,  a  preacher 
of  the  Gospel.  The  idea  never  dawned  on  me  that  any  line 
was  to  be  drawn  between  one  who  had  nothing  else  to  do  but 
preach  and  a  saved  apprentice  lad  who  only  wanted  'to  spread 
through  all  the  earth  abroad,'  as  we  used  to  sing,  the  fame 
of  our  Saviour.  I  have  lived,  thank  God,  to  witness  the 
separation  between  layman  and  cleric  become  more  and  more 
obscured,  and  to  see  Jesus  Christ's  idea  of  changing  in  a 
moment  ignorant  fishermen  into  fishers  of  men  nearer  and 
nearer  realisation. 

"  But  I  had  to  battle  for  ten  of  the  best  years  of  my  youth 
against  the  barriers  the  Churches  set  up  to  prevent  this  natural 
following  of  the  Lamb  wherever  He  leads.  At  that  time  they 
all  but  compelled  those  who  wished  to  minister  to  the  souls 
of  men  to  speak  in  unnatural  language  and  tones,  and  adopt 
habits  of  mind  and  life  which  so  completely  separated  them 
from  the  crowd  as  to  make  them  into  a  sort  of  princely  caste. 


18  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

whom  the  masses  of  every  clime  outwardly  reverenced  and 
inwardly  despised. 

"Lad  though  I  was,  a  group  of  new  Converts  and  other 
earnest  souls  soon  gathered  around  me,  and  greater  things 
seemed  to  be  ahead  when  a  great  trial  overtook  me.  The 
bosom  friend  already  referred  to  was  taken  from  my  side. 
We  had  been  like  David  and  Jonathan  in  the  intensity  of  our 
union  and  fellowship  in  our  work  for  God.  He  had  a  fine 
appearance,  was  a  beautiful  singer,  and  possessed  a  wonder- 
ful gift  in  prayer.  After  I  had  spoken  in  our  Open-Air  Meet- 
ing he  would  kneel  down  and  wrestle  with  God  until  it  seemed 
as  though  he  would  move  the  very  stones  on  which  he  knelt, 
as  well  as  the  hearts  of  the  people  who  heard  him.  Of  how 
few  of  those  men  called  ministers  or  priests  can  anything  like 
this  be  said ! 

"  But  the  unexpected  blow  came.  He  fell  into  consumption. 
His  relations  carried  him  up  and  down  the  country  for  change 
of  air  and  scene.  All  was  done  that  could  be  done  to  save 
his  life,  but  in  vain.  The  last  change  was  to  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
In  that  lovely  spot  the  final  hope  fled.  I  remember  their 
bringing  him  home  to  die.  He  bade  farewell  to  earth,  and 
went  triumphantly  to  Heaven  singing — 

And  when  to  Jordan's  flood  I  come, 

Jehovah  rules  the  tide, 

And  the  waters  He'll  divide, 

And  the  heavenly  host  will  shout — 

"  Welcome  Home !  " 

"What  a  trial  that  loss  was  to  my  young  heart!  It  was 
rendered  all  the  greater  from  the  fact  that  I  had  to  go  for- 
ward all  alone  in  face  of  an  opposition  which  suddenly  sprang 
up  from  the  leading  functionaries  of  the  church." 

The  consecration  which  William  Booth  made  of  himself 
to  this  work,  with  all  the  zeal  and  novelty  with  which  it 
was  characterised,  was  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  teaching,  in- 
fluence, and  example  of  James  Caughey,  a  remarkable 
American  minister  who  visited  the  town.  Largely  free 
from  European  opinions  and  customs  in  religious  matters, 
.  and  seeking  only  to  advance  the  cause  of  Jesus  Christ  with 
all  possible  speed,  this  man  to  a  very  large  extent  liberated 


LAY  MINISTRY  19 

William  Booth  for  life  from  any  one  set  of  plans,  and  led 
him  towards  that  perfect  faith  in  God's  guidance  which 
made  him  capable  of  new  departures  to  any  extent. 

The  old-fashioned  representatives  of  officialdom  grum- 
bled in  vain  at  novelties  which  have  now  become  accepted 
necessities  of  all  mission  work. 

"But  just  about  this  time,"  The  General  has  told  us,  "an- 
other difficulty  started  across  my  path  in  connexion  with  my 
business.  I  have  told  you  how  intense  had  been  the  action 
of  my  conscience  before  my  conversion.  But  after  my  con- 
version it  was  naturally  ever  increasingly  sensitive  to  every 
question  of  right  and  wrong,  with  a  great  preponderance  as 
to  the  importance  of  what  was  right  over  what  was  wrong. 
Ever  since  that  day  it  has  led  me  to  measure  my  own  actions, 
and  judge  my  own  character  by  the  standard  of  truth  set  up 
in  my  soul  by  the  Bible  and  the  Holy  Ghost;  and  it  has  not 
permitted  me  to  allow  myself  in  the  doing  of  things  which  I 
have  felt  were  wrong  without  great  inward  torture.  I  have 
always  had  a  great  horror  of  hypocrisy — that  is,  of  being 
unreal  or  false,  however  fashionable  the  cursed  thing  might 
be,  or  whatever  worldly  temptation  might  strive  to  lead  me 
on  to  the  track.  In  this  I  was  tested  again  and  again  in  those 
early  days,  and  at  last  there  came  a  crisis. 

"  Our  business  was  a  large  one  and  the  assistants  were  none 
too  many.  On  Saturdays  there  was  always  great  pressure. 
Work  often  continued  into  the  early  hours  of  Sunday.  Now 
I  had  strong  notions  in  my  youth  and  for  long  after — indeed, 
I  entertain  them  now — about  the  great  importance  of  keeping 
the  Sunday,  or  Sabbath  as  we  always  called  it,  clear  of  un- 
necessary work. 

"For  instance,  I  walked  in  my  young  days  thousands  of 
miles  on  the  Sabbath,  when  I  could  for  a  trifling  sum  have 
ridden  at  ease,  rather  than  use  any  compulsory  labour  of  man 
or  beast  for  the  promotion  of  my  comfort.  I  still  think  we 
ought  to  abstain  from  all  unnecessary  work  ourselves,  and, 
as  far  as  possible,  arrange  for  everybody  about  us  to  have 
one  day's  rest  in  seven.  But,  as  I  was  saying,  I  objected  to 
working  at  my  business  on  the  Sabbath,  which  I  interpreted 
to  mean  after  twelve  o'clock  on  Saturday  night.  My  relatives 
and  many  of  my  religious  friends  laughed  at  my  scruples; 
but  I  paid  no  heed  to  them,  and  told  my  master  I  would  not 


go  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

do  it,  though  he  replied  that  if  that  were  so  he  would  simply 
discharge  me.  I  told  him  I  was  willing  to  begin  on  Monday 
morning  as  soon  as  the  clock  struck  twelve,  and  work  until 
the  clock  struck  twelve  on  Saturday  night,  but  that  not  one 
hour  or  one  minute  of  Sunday  would  I  work  for  him  or  all 
his  money. 

"  He  kept  his  word,  put  me  into  the  street,  and  I  was 
laughed  at  by  everybody  as  a  sort  of  fool.  But  I  held  out, 
and  within  seven  days  he  gave  in,  and,  thinking  my  scrupulous 
conscience  might  serve  his  turn  he  told  me  to  come  back  again. 
I  did  so,  and  before  another  fortnight  had  passed  he  went 
off  with  his  young  wife  to  Paris,  leaving  the  responsibilities 
of  a  business  involving  the  income  and  expenditure  of  hun- 
dreds of  pounds  weekly  on  my  young  shoulders. 

"  So  I  did  not  lose  by  that  transaction  in  any  way.  With 
no  little  suffering  on  four  separate  occasions,  contrary  to  the 
judgments  of  all  around  me,  I  have  thus  left  every  friend  I 
had  in  the  world,  and  gone  straight  into  what  appeared  posi- 
tive ruin,  so  far  as  this  world  was  concerned,  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  conscience.  But  I  have  trusted  God,  and  done  the 
right,  and  in  every  separate  instance  I  can  now  see  that  I 
have  gained  both  for  this  world  and  the  next  as  the  result. 

"During  all  the  period  of  my  lay  preaching,  both  in  Not- 
tingham and  London,  I  had  to  grapple  with  other  difficulties. 
What  with  one  thing  and  another  I  had  a  great  struggle  at 
times  to  keep  my  head  above  the  waters,  and  my  heart  alive 
with  peace  and  love.  But  I  held  on  to  God  and  His  grace, 
and  the  never-failing  joy  that  I  experienced  in  leading  souls 
to  Christ  carried  me  through." 

How  can  anybody  fail  to  see  how  much  more  the  masses 
are  likely  to  be  influenced  by  the  preaching,  no  matter  how 
defective  oratorically,  of  one  who  has  thus  lived  in  the 
midst  of  them — living,  in  fact,  their  very  life  of  anxiety, 
suffering,  and  toil — than  by  that  of  men,  however  excellent, 
who  come  to  them  with  the  atmosphere  of  the  study,  the 
college,  or  the  seminary? 

And  yet,  after  having  been  trained  for  a  year  in  the 
rough-and-ready  oratory  of  the  streets,  subject  to  interrup- 
tions and  interjected  sneers,  The  General  was  called  upon, 
in  order  to  be  recognised  as  fit  for  registration  as  a  lay 


LAY  MINISTRY  21 

preacher,  to  mount  the  pulpit  and  preach  a  "trial  ser- 
mon " !  Accustomed  as  he  had  become  to  talk  out  his  heart 
with  such  words  and  illustrations  as  involuntarily  presented 
themselves  to  the  simple-minded,  though  often  wicked  and 
always  ignorant  crowds,  who  gathered  around  the  chair  on 
which  he  stood;  able  without  difficulty  to  hold  their  at- 
tention when  he  had  won  it,  and  drive  the  truth  home  to 
their  souls,  in  spite  of  the  counter-attractions  of  a  busy 
thoroughfare,  he  took  very  hardly  to  the  stiff,  cold  process 
of  sermonising  and  sermon-making  such  as  was  then  in 
vogue,  and  it  was  some  time  before  he  had  much  liberty  or 
made  much  progress  in  the  business. 

Still,  in  due  time  he  was  passed,  first  as  a  lay  "  preacher 
on  trial,"  and  later  called  as  fully  qualified  to  preach  at  any 
chapel  in  the  district — this  latter  after  a  second  year's  activi- 
ties and  a  "  second  trial  sermon." 

When  he  once  got  on  to  this  sermon-making  line  he 
took  the  best  models  he  could  find — men  like  John  Wesley, 
George  Whitefield,  and,  above  all,  C.  G.  Finney,  who  he 
could  be  certain  had  never  sought  in  their  preaching  for 
human  applause,  but  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of 
souls  alone. 

In  the  Psalms,  as  in  the  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  we  have  the  most  unmistakable  guidance  upon 
this  subject,  showing  it  to  have  been  God's  purpose  so  to 
pour  out  His  Spirit  upon  all  flesh  that  all  His  people  should 
be  true  prophets — not  all,  of  course,  of  the  same  calibre  or 
style,  but  all  capable  of  warning  and  teaching,  in  all  wis- 
dom, every  one  whom  they  could  reach. 

The  work  of  the  ministry  is  another  thing  altogether. 
Let  no  one  suppose  that  The  Salvation  Army  at  all  under- 
rates the  "  separation  "  unto  His  work  of  those  whom  God 
has  chosen  for  entire  devotion  to  some  task,  whatever  it 
be.  As  to  those  whom  we  take  away  from  their  secular 
calling  to  become  our  Officers,  I  will  only  say  here  that  we 
judge  of  their  fitness  not  alone  by  their  ability  to  speak, 
but  by  their  having  proved  themselves  to  be  so  devoted  to 
the  poor  that  we  can  rely  upon  their  readiness  to  act  as 
servants  of  the  very  neediest  in  any  way  that  lies  within 


2^  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

their  power.  Only  two  persons  at  each  of  our  Stations, 
the  Officers  actually  in  command,  receive  any  payment 
whatever  from  The  Army.  All  the  others  associated  with 
us,  many  of  them  wearing  our  uniform  and  holding  some 
particular  office,  give  freely  their  leisure-time  and  money 
to  the  work,  and  may  be  spoken  of  as  "  lay  preachers." 

Our  young  "  local  preacher "  generally  spent  his  Sun- 
days in  some  distant  village  where  he  had  been  appointed 
to  preach,  just  as  is  the  case  in  these  days  with  thousands 
of  our  Soldiers. 

"  My  homeward  walk,  often  alone  through  the  dark,  muddy 
fields  and  lanes,"  he  tells  us,  "would  be  enlivened  by  snatches 
of  the  songs  we  had  been  singing  in  our  Meetings,  and  late 
into  the  night  people  might  have  heard  my  solitary  prayers 
and  praises.  *  Don't  sit  up  singing  till  twelve  o'clock  after  a 
hard  day's  work,'  was  one  of  the  first  needed  pieces  of  prac- 
tical advice  I  got  from  my  best  adviser  of  later  years. 

"  But  we  never  felt  we  could  have  too  much  of  God's 
service  and  praise,  and  scarcely  regarded  the  grave  itself  as 
a  terminus  for  our  usefulness;  for  in  the  case  of  a  girl  who 
had  attended  our  Cottage  Meetings,  and  who  had  died  of  con- 
sumption, we  lads  organised  something  very  like  one  of  our 
present-day  Salvation  Army  Funerals. 

"  Having  ministered  to  the  poor  girl's  necessities  during 
her  sickness,  comforted  her  in  her  last  hours  of  pain,  sung 
hymns  of  triumph  round  her  bed  as  her  spirit  took  its  passage 
to  the  skies,  we  had  the  right,  as  her  only  friends,  to  order 
her  funeral,  and  we  resolved  to  make  the  most  of  it  for  the 
good  of  her  neighbours. 

"Although  it  was  in  the  depth  of  winter,  and  snow  lay 
thick  on  the  ground,  we  brought  the  coffin  out  into  the  street, 
sang  and  prayed  around  it,  and  urged  the  few  neighbours  who 
stood  shivering  by,  or  listening  at  their  doors  and  windows,  to 
prepare  for  their  dying  day.  We  then  processioned  to  the 
Cholera  Burial  Ground,  as  the  cemetery  in  which  the  poorest 
of  Nottingham  were  buried  was  called,  obtaining  permission 
from  the  Chaplain  to  hold  another  little  Meeting  by  the  grave- 
side, after  he  had  read  the  ordinary  Service.  I  cannot  but 
feel  that  the  hand  of  God  was  upon  me  in  those  days,  teaching 
me  how  much  lay  preachers  could  do." 

How  wonderful  that  the  lad  who  did  all  that  in  the  teeth 


LAY  MINISTRY  23 

of  religious  convention  and  opinion  should  have  lived  to 
organise  just  such  battles  and  just  such  funerals  all  round 
the  world,  and  to  train  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Soldiers 
of  Christ  to  do  likewise!  What  a  termination  to  his  own 
career  he  was  preparing  all  the  time,  when  the  City  of 
London  was  to  suspend  the  traffic  of  many  of  its  busiest 
thoroughfares  for  hours  to  let  his  coffin  pass  through  with 
a  procession  of  his  uniformed  Soldiers  a  mile  long! 

With  regard  to  the  question  of  a  "  Call  to  the  ministry," 
that  bugbear  of  so  many  souls.  The  General  constantly  ex- 
pressed himself  as  follows: — 

"How  can  anybody  with  spiritual  eyesight  talk  of  having 
no  call,  when  there  are  such  multitudes  around  them  who 
never  hear  a  word  about  God,  and  never  intend  to;  who  can 
never  hear,  indeed,  without  the  sort  of  preacher  who  will 
force  himself  upon  them?  Can  a  man  keep  right  in  his  own 
soul,  who  can  see  all  that,  and  yet  stand  waiting  for  a  *  call ' 
to  preach?  Would  they  wait  so  for  a  *call'  to  help  any  one 
to  escape  from  a  burning  building,  or  to  snatch  a  sinking 
child  from  a  watery  grave? 

"  Does  not  growth  in  grace,  or  even  ordinary  growth  of 
intelligence,  necessarily  bring  with  it  that  deepened  sense  of 
eternal  truths  which  must  intensify  the  conviction  of  duty  to 
the  perishing  world? 

"  Does  not  an  unselfish  love,  the  love  that  goes  out  towards 
the  unloving,  demand  of  a  truly  loving  soul  immediate  action 
for  the  Salvation  of  the  unloved?" 

"And,  are  there  not  persons  who  know  that  they  possess 
special  gifts,  such  as  robust  health,  natural  eloquence  or  power 
of  voice,  which  specially  make  them  responsible  for  doing 
something  for  souls? 

"  And  yet  I  do  not  at  all  forget,  that  above  and  beyond  all 
these  things,  there  does  come  to  some  a  special  and  direct 
call,  which  it  is  peculiarly  fatal  to  disregard,  and  peculiarly 
strengthening  to  enjoy  and  act  upon. 

"I  believe  that  there  have  been  many  eminently  holy  and 
useful  men  who  never  had  such  a  call;  but  that  does  not  at 
all  prevent  any  one  from  asking  God  for  it,  or  blessing  Him 
for  His  special  kindness  when  He  gives  it." 

There  is,  I  think,  no  doubt  that  God  did  give  to  young 


24.  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

William  Booth  such  a  call,  although  he  never  spoke  of  it, 
perhaps  lest  he  might  discourage  any  who,  without  enjoy- 
ing any  such  manifestation,  acted  upon  the  "principles  just 
referred  to.  At  any  rate,  he  battled  through  any  season 
of  doubt  he  had  with  regard  to  it,  and  came  out  into  a 
certainty  that  left  him  no  room  for  question  or  fear. 


Chapter  IV 

EARLY  MINISTRY 

We  cannot  wonder  that  God  Himself  rarely  seems  to  find 
it  wise,  even  if  it  be  possible,  to  fit  men  for  His  most  im- 
portant enterprises  in  a  few  years,  or  by  means  of  one 
simple  process  of  instruction.  Consider  the  diversity  of 
men's  minds  and  lives,  and  the  varying  currents  of  thought 
and  opinion  which  are  found  in  the  various  parts  of  the 
world  at  different  periods  of  even  one  century,  and  it  will 
at  once  be  seen  how  impossible  we  should  all  immediately 
pronounce  it  to  fit  one  man  by  means  of  one  pathway  of 
service  to  be  the  minister  and  leader  of  the  followers  of 
Christ  in  every  part  of  the  world. 

Christ  Himself  was  kept  in  an  obscurity  we  cannot  pene- 
trate for  thirty  years  before  He  was  made  known  to  the 
comparatively  small  people  amongst  whom  all  His  time  on 
earth  was  to  be  spent.  Moses  was  not  called  till  he  was 
eighty  years  old,  having  spent  forty  years  amidst  the  splen- 
dours of  one  of  the  grandest  courts  of  the  ancient  world, 
and  forty  more  amidst  the  sheep  on  a  desert  border ! 

How  was  the  ardent  English  lad  who  came  to  serve  in  a 
London  shop  during  the  week,  and  to  do  the  work  of  a 
lay  preacher  on  Sundays,  to  be  fitted  to  form  and  lead  a 
great  Christian  Order  of  devotees  out  of  every  nation,  and 
to  instruct  and  direct  them  in  helping  their  fellow-men  of 
every  race  in  every  necessity  that  could  arise?  To  pre- 
pare a  man  merely  to  preach  the  Gospel  a  few  years  of 
service  in  that  work  might  sufiice ;  but  then  we  should  prob- 
ably have  seen  a  man  merely  interested  in  the  numbers  of 
his  own  audiences  and  the  effect  produced  upon  them  by 
his  own  preaching. 

For  William  Booth  a  much  more  tedious  and  round- 
about journey  was  needed.     He  must  first  of  all  preach  his 

25 


26  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

way  up  from  the  counter  to  the  pulpit,  and  he  must  then 
have  twenty  years  of  varied  experiences  in  ministerial  serv- 
ice amongst  widely  differing  Churches,  before  he  could  be 
fit  to  take  up  his  appointed  place,  outside  all  the  Churches, 
to  raise  from  amongst  every  class  a  new  force  for  the  ex^ 
altation  of  Christ  amongst  all  men. 

For  so  great  a  work  he  must  needs  have  a  helpmeet,  and 
he  was  to  find  her  when  she  was  still  physically  as  weak 
and  unlikely  for  the  great  task  as  he  was,  and  as  entirely 
severed  from  all  existing  organisations.  Catherine  Mum- 
ford,  like  himself,  innocent  of  any  unkind  feeling  towards 
her  Church,  had  been  excluded  from  it,  simply  because  she 
would  not  pledge  herself  to  keep  entirely  away  from  the 
Reform  party. 

Unable  really  at  the  time  to  do  more  than  teach  a  class 
in  the  Sunday  School,  and  occasionally  visit  a  sick  person, 
she  nevertheless,  by  the  fervour  of  her  action,  made  herself 
a  power  that  was  felt,  and  threw  all  her  influence  on  the 
side  of  any  whole-hearted  religious  or  temperance  effort. 
The  anxiety  of  both  these  two  young  people  not  to  allow 
any  thought  for  their  own  happiness  to  interfere  with  their 
duty  to  God  and  to  their  fellows  delayed  their  marriage  for 
years;  and  when  they  did  marry  it  was  with  the  perfect 
resolve  on  both  sides  to  make  everything  in  their  own  life 
and  home  subordinate  to  the  great  work  to  which  they  had 
given  themselves. 

Neither  of  them  at  the  time  dreamed  of  Mrs.  Booth's 
speaking  in  public,  much  less  that  they  were  together  to 
become  the  liberators  of  woman  from  the  silence  imposed 
on  her  by  almost  every  organisation  of  Christ's  followers. 
Having  known  both  of  them  intimately  during  the  years 
in  which  The  Salvation  Army  was  being  formed,  I  can 
positively  contradict  the  absurdly  exaggerated  statement 
that  The  General  would  have  had  little  or  no  success  in 
life  but  for  the  talents  and  attractive  ministry  of  Mrs. 
Booth.  She  was  a  helpmeet  in  the  most  perfect  sense, 
never,  even  when  herself  reduced  to  illness  and  helpless- 
ness, desiring  to  absorb  either  time  or  attention  that  he 
could  give  to  the  great  War  in  which  she  always  encour- 


CATHERINE    BOOTH 
Born  January  17th.  1829.     Died  October  4th,  1890. 


EARLY  MINISTRY  27 

aged  him  as  no  other  ever  could.  Remaining  to  her  latest 
hour  a  woman  of  the  tenderest  and  most  modest  character, 
she  shrank  from  public  duty,  and  merely  submitted  so  far 
as  she  felt  "  constrained,''  for  Christ's  sake,  to  association 
with  anything  that  she  was  convinced  ought  to  be  done  to 
gain  the  ears  of  men  for  the  Gospel,  however  contrary  it 
might  be  to  her  own  tastes  and  wishes.  Perhaps  her  most 
valuable  contribution  to  the  construction  of  The  General's 
life  was  her  ability  to  explain  to  him  opinions  and  tastes 
differing  widely  from  his  own,  and  to  sustain  and  defend 
his  general  defiance  of  the  usual  traditions  and  customs  of 
"  society." 

His  own  feelings  about  it  all  he  has  described  in  these 
words : — 

"The  sensations  of  a  new-comer  to  London  from  the  coun- 
try, are  always  somewhat  disagreeable,  if  he  comes  to  work. 
The  immensity  of  the  city  must  especially  strike  him  as  he 
crosses  it  for  the  first  time  and  passes  through  its  different 
areas.  The  general  turn-out  into  a  few  great  thorough- 
fares, on  Saturday  nights  especially,  gives  a  sensation  of 
enormous  bulk.  The  manifest  poverty  of  so  many  in  the  most 
populous  streets  must  appeal  to  any  heart.  The  language  of 
the  drinking  crowds  must  needs  give  a  rather  worse  than  a 
true  impression  of  all. 

"  The  crowding  pressure  and  activity  of  so  many  must  al- 
most oppress  one  not  accustomed  to  it.  The  number  of  public- 
houses,  theatres,  and  music-halls  must  give  a  young  enthusiast 
for  Christ  a  sickening  impression.  The  enormous  number 
of  hawkers  must  also  have  given  a  rather  exaggerated  idea 
of  the  poverty  and  cupidity  which  nevertheless  prevailed. 
The  Churches  in  those  days  gave  the  very  uttermost  idea  of 
spiritual  death  and  blindness  to  the  existing  condition  of 
things;  at  that  time  very  few  of  them  were  open  more  than 
one  evening  per  week.  There  were  no  Young  Men's  or  Young 
Women's  Christian  Associations,  no  P.S.A.'s,  no  Brother- 
hoods, no  Central  Missions,  no  extra  effort  to  attract  the 
attention  of  the  godless  crowds;  for  miles  there  was  not  an 
announcement  of  anything  special  in  the  religious  line  to  be 
seen. 

"  To  any  one  who  cared  to  enter  the  places  of  worship. 


£8  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

their  deathly  contrast  with  the  streets  was  even  worse.  The 
absence  of  week-night  services  must  have  made  any  stranger 
despair  of  finding  even  society  or  diversion.  A  Methodist 
sufficiently  in  earnest  to  get  inside  to  the  'class'  would  find 
a  handful  of  people  reluctant  to  bear  any  witness  to  the  power 
of  God. 

"  Despite  the  many  novelties  introduced  since  those  days, 
the  activities  of  the  world  being  so  much  greater,  the  con- 
trast must  look  even  more  striking  in  our  own  time." 

Imagine  a  young  man  accustomed  to  daily  labour  for  the 
poor,  coming  into  such  a  world  as  that! 

Thought  about  what  they  sang  and  said  in  the  private 
gatherings  of  the  Methodist  Societies  could  only  deepen 
and  intensify  the  feeling  of  monstrosity.  They  sang  fre- 
quently : — 

He  taught  me  how  to  watch  and  pray, 
And  live  rejoicing  every  day. 

But  where  were  the  rejoicing  people?  Where  was  there 
indeed  anybody  who,  either  in  or  out  of  a  religious  service, 
dared  to  express  his  joy  in  the  Lord — or  wished  to  express 
anything.  It  was  as  if  religious  societies  had  become  wet 
blankets  to  suppress  any  approach  to  a  hearty  expression  of 
religious  faith.  Nevertheless,  by  God's  grace,  it  all  worked 
in  this  case  not  to  crush  but  to  infuriate  and  stir  the  new- 
comer to  action. 

Preaching,  under  such  circumstances,  was  a  relief  to  such 
a  soul,  and  necessarily  became  more  and  more  desperate. 

One  hearing  of  William  Booth  was  enough  for  Mr.  Rab- 
bits, a  practical,  go-ahead  man,  who  had  raised  up  out  of 
the  old-fashioned  little  business  of  his  forefathers  one  of 
the  great  "  stores  "  of  London,  and  who  longed  to  see  the 
same  sort  of  development  take  place  in  connexion  with  the 
old-fashioned,  perfectly  correct,  and  yet  all  but  lifeless  in- 
stitutions that  professed  to  represent  Jesus  Christ  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  His  sense  of  the  contrast  between 
this  preacher  and  others  whom  he  knew  was  proportion- 
ately rapid  and  acute.  The  effects  produced  on  hearers 
were  the  same  at  every  turn. 


EARLY  MINISTRY  29 

This  living  preaching  was  and  is  a  perfect  fit  with  all 
the  rush  of  the  world  outside,  and  the  helplessness  of  the 
poor  souls  around. 

William  Booth  was,  as  we  have  seen,  only  seventeen 
when  he  was  fully  recognised  as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  Methodist  Churches,  and  at 
nineteen  his  minister  urged  him  to  give  up  his  life  to  the 
ministry.  At  that  time,  however,  he  felt  himself  too  weak 
physically  for  a  ministerial  career,  and  in  this  view  his 
doctor  concurred.  So  determined  was  he  to  accomplish 
his  purpose,  however,  that  he  begged  the  doctor  not  to 
express  his  opinion  to  the  minister,  but  to  allow  the  matter 
to  stand  over  for  a  year.  Unless  a  man  with  a  nervous 
system  like  his  was  "  framed  like  a  bullock,"  and  had  "  a 
chest  like  a  prize-fighter,"  he  would  break  down,  said  the 
physician,  and  seeing  that  he  was  not  so  built,  he  would  be 
"  done  for "  in  twelve  months.  The  doctor  went  to  the 
grave  very  soon  afterwards,  whereas  The  General  contin- 
ued preaching  for  over  sixty  years  after  that  pronounce- 
ment. 

At  this  period,  some  of  the  Wesley ans  who  were  discon- 
tented with  their  leaders  in  London  broke  into  revolt,  and 
there  was  so  much  bitter  feeling  on  both  sides,  that  the 
main  object  of  John  Wesley — the  exaltation  of  Christ  for 
the  Salvation  of  men — was  for  the  moment  almost  lost 
sight  of. 

Mr.  Booth  joined  with  the  most  earnest  people  he  could 
find;  but  though  they  gave  him  opportunity  to  hold  Meet- 
ings, he  wrote  to  one  of  his  old  associates: — 

"How  are  you  going  on?  I  wish  I  knew  you  were  happy, 
living  to  God  and  working  for  Jesus. 

"I  preached  on  Sabbath  last  to  a  respectable  but  dull  and 
lifeless  congregation.  Notwithstanding  this  I  had  liberty  in 
both  prayer  and  preaching.  I  had  not  any  one  to  say  *  Amen ' 
or  '  Praise  the  Lord '  during  the  whole  of  the  service.  I  want 
some  of  you  here  with  me  in  the  Prayer  Meetings,  and  then 
we  should  carry  all  before  us." 

Thus  we  see  emerging  from  the  obscurity  of  a  poor  home 


30  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

a  conqueror,  fired  with  one  ambition,  out  of  harmony  with 
every  then  existing  Christian  organisation,  because  of  that 
strange  old  feeHng,  so  often  expressed  in  the  Psalms  of 
David,  that  the  praises  of  God  ought  to  be  heard  from  all 
men's  lips  alike,  and  that  everything  else  ought  to  give  way 
to  His  will  and  His  pleasure. 

In  speaking  to  his  Officers  later  on  he  said : — 

"When  the  great  separation  from  the  Wesleyan  Church 
took  place,  Mr.  Rabbits  said  to  me  one  day :  *  You  must  leave 
business,  and  wholly  devote  yourself  to  preaching  the  Gospel,' 

"  *  Impossible,'  I  answered.  *  There  is  no  way  for  me.  No- 
body wants  me.'  *Yes,'  said  he,  *the  people  with  whom  you 
have  allied  yourself  want  an  evangelist.' 

" '  They  cannot  support  me,'  I  replied ;  *  and  I  cannot  live 
on  air.' 

" '  That  is  true,  no  doubt,'  was  his  answer.  *  How  much 
can  you  live  on  ? ' 

"I  reckoned  up  carefully.  I  knew  I  should  have  to  provide 
my  own  quarters  and  to  pay  for  my  cooking;  and  as  to  the 
living  itself,  I  did  not  understand  in  those  days  how  this  could 
be  managed  in  as  cheap  a  fashion  as  I  do  now.  After  a  care- 
ful calculation,  I  told  him  that  I  did  not  see  how  I  could  get 
along  with  less  than  twelve  shillings  a  week. 

"  *  Nonsense,'  he  said ;  *  you  cannot  do  with  less  than  twenty 
shillings  a  week,  I  am  sure.' 

"*A11  right,'  I  said,  *have  it  your  own  way,  if  you  will; 
but  where  is  the  twenty  shillings  to  come  from?' 

" '  I  will  supply  it,'  he  said,  *  for  the  first  three  months  at 
least.' 

"  *  Very  good,'  I  answered.  And  the  bargain  was  struck 
there  and  then. 

"  I  at  once  gave  notice  to  my  master,  who  was  very  angry, 
and  said,  *If  it  is  money  you  want,  that  need  not  part  us.* 
I  told  him  that  money  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  question, 
that  all  I  wanted  was  the  opportunity  to  spend  my  life  and 
powers  in  publishing  the  Saviour  to  a  lost  world.  And 
so  I  packed  my  portmanteau,  and  went  out  to  begin  a  new 
life. 

"  My  first  need  was  some  place  to  lay  my  head.  After  a 
little  time  spent  in  the  search,  I  found  quarters  in  the  Wal- 
worth district,  where  I  expected  to  work,  and  took  two  rooms 


EARLY  MINISTRY  31 

in  the  house  of  a  widow  at  five  shillings  a  week,  with  at- 
tendance. This  I  reckoned  at  the  time  was  a  pretty  good 
bargain.  I  then  went  to  a  furniture  shop,  and  bought  some 
chairs  and  a  bed,  and  a  few  other  necessaries.  I  felt  quite 
set  up.  It  was  my  birthday,  a  Good  Friday,  and  on  the  same 
day  I  fell  in  love  with  my  future  wife. 

"  But  the  people  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  me.  They 
'did  not  want  a  parson.*  They  reckoned  they  were  all  par- 
sons, so  that  at  the  end  of  the  three  months'  engagement  the 
weekly  income  came  to  an  end;  and,  indeed,  I  would  not  have 
renewed  the  engagement  on  any  terms.  There  was  nothing 
for  me  to  do  but  to  sell  my  furniture  and  live  on  the  proceeds, 
which  did  not  supply  me  for  a  very  long  time.  I  declare  to 
you  that  at  that  time  I  was  so  fixed  as  not  to  know  which  way 
to  turn. 

"  In  my  emergency  a  remarkable  way  opened  for  me  to 
enter  college  and  become  a  Congregational  minister.  But 
after  long  waiting,  several  examinations,  trial  sermons  and 
the  like,  I  was  informed  that  on  the  completion  of  my  train- 
ing I  should  be  expected  to  believe  and  preach  what  is  known 
as  Calvinism.  After  reading  a  book  which  fully  explained 
the  doctrine,  I  threw  it  at  the  wall  opposite  me,  and  said  I 
would  sooner  starve  than  preach  such  doctrine,  one  special 
feature  of  which  was  that  only  a  select  few  could  be  saved.* 

"  My  little  stock  of  money  was  exhausted.  I  remember 
that  I  gave  the  last  sixpence  I  had  in  the  world  to  a  poor 
woman  whose  daughter  lay  dying;  but  within  a  week  I  re- 
ceived a  letter  inviting  me  to  the  charge  of  a  Methodist  Circuit 

*The  general  tendency  towards  indifference  quite  as  much  as  the 
better  impulses  of  our  age  have  produced  such  a  toning  down  of  the 
teachings  of  Calvin,  both  in  and  out  of  Switzerland,  that  it  may  be 
startling  to  some  to  be  reminded  that,  except  the  Lutheran  and  Metho- 
dist, every  Church  still  has  in  its  list  of  Doctrines  those  of  Election 
and  Predestination.  If  it  were  true  that  every  human  being  was  pre- 
destined, before  birth,  either  to  a  good  or  a  bad  life,  there  would,  of 
course,  be  no  meaning  in  a  Saviour  or  a  Gospel;  and  we  can  under- 
stand the  indignation  of  this  honest  lad,  when  he  was  asked  to 
undertake  to  teach  such  things.  He  never  learned  how  to  reconcile  the 
profession  of  a  set  of  doctrines  one  does  not  believe  with  any  religion. 
The  recollection  of  this  incident  helped  him  in  limiting  to  the  utmost 
possible  extent,  the  Doctrinal  Declarations  of  The  Army.  But  what- 
ever he  asked  any  one  to  subscribe  to  he  expected  them  truly  to  be- 
lieve and  earnestly  to  teach. 


S2  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

in  Lincolnshire,  and  from  that  moment  my  difficulties  of  that 
kind  became  much  less  serious. 

"The  Spalding  people  welcomed  me  as  though  I  had  been 
an  angel  from  Heaven,  providing  me  M^ith  every  earthly  bless- 
ing within  their  ability,  and  proposing  that  I  should  stay  with 
them  for  ever.  They  wanted  me  to  marry  right  away,  offered 
to  furnish  me  a  house,  provide  me  with  a  horse  to  enable  me 
more  readily  to  get  about  the  country,  and  proposed  other 
things  that  they  thought  would  please  me. 

"With  them  I  spent  perhaps  the  happiest  eighteen  months 
of  my  life.  Of  course  my  horizon  was  much  more  limited 
in  those  days  than  it  is  now,  and  consequently  required  less 
to  fill  it. 

"Although  I  was  only  twenty-three  years  of  age  and  Lin- 
colnshire was  one  of  the  counties  that  had  been  most  privileged 
with  able  Methodist  preaching  for  half  a  century  before,  and 
I  had  to  immediately  follow  in  Spalding  a  somewhat  renowned 
minister,  God  helped  me  very  wonderfully  to  make  myself  at 
home,  and  become  a  power  amongst  the  people. 

"  I  felt  some  nervousness  when  on  my  first  November  Sun- 
day I  was  confronted  by  such  a  large  congregation  as  greeted 
me.  In  the  morning  I  had  very  little  liberty;  but  good  was 
done,  as  I  afterwards  learned.  In  the  afternoon  we  had  a 
Prayer,  or  After-Meeting,  at  which  one  young  woman  wept 
bitterly.  I  urged  her  to  come  to  the  communion  rail  at  night. 
She  did  so,  and  the  Lord  saved  her.  She  afterwards  sent  me 
a  letter  thanking  me  for  urging  her  to  come  out.  In  the 
evening  I  had  great  liberty,  and  fourteen  men  and  women 
came  to  the  communion  rail;  many,  if  not  all,  finding  the 
Saviour. 

"  On  the  Monday  I  preached  there  again.  Four  came  for- 
ward, three  of  whom  professed  to  find  Salvation.  I  exerted 
myself  very  much,  felt  very  deeply,  and  prayed  very  earnestly 
over  an  old  man  who  had  been  a  backslider  for  seven  years. 
He  wept  bitterly,  and  prayed  to  the  Lord  to  save  him,  if  He 
could  wash  a  heart  as  black  as  Hell.  By  exerting  myself  so 
much  I  made  myself  very  ill,  and  was  confined  to  the  house 
during  the  rest  of  the  week.  My  host  and  hostess  were  very 
kind  to  me. 

"The  next  Sunday  I  started  from  home  rather  unwell.  I 
had  to  go  to  Donnington,  some  miles  away,  in  the  morning 
and  evening,  and  to  Swineshead  Bridge  in  the  afternoon. 


EARLY  MINISTRY  33 

"  But  at  night  God  helped  me  to  preach  in  such  a  way  that 
many  came  out,  and  fourteen  names  were  taken  of  those  who 
really  seemed  satisfactory.  It  was,  indeed,  a  melting,  moving 
time. 

"  I  was  kneeling,  talking  to  a  Penitent,  when  somebody 
touched  me  on  the  shoulder,  and  said,  *  Here  is  a  lady  who 
has  come  to  seek  Salvation.  Her  son  came  to  hear  you  at 
Spalding,  and  was  induced  to  seek  the  Saviour,  and  now  she 
has  come  to  hear  you,  and  she  wants  Salvation,  too."  The 
Lord  had  mercy  upon  her,  and  she  went  away  rejoicing. 

"At  Swineshead  Bridge — the  very  name  gives  some  idea 
of  the  utterly  rural  character  of  the  population — I  was  to 
preach  on  three  successive  evenings,  in  the  hope  of  promoting 
a  Revival  there.  Many  things  seemed  to  be  against  the 
project;  but  the  Lord  was  for  us.  Two  people  came  out  on 
the  Monday  evening,  and  God  saved  them  both.  This  raised 
our  faith  and  cheered  our  spirits,  especially  as  we  knew  that 
several  more  souls  were  in  distress. 

"  On  the  Tuesday  the  congregation  was  better.  The  news 
had  spread  that  the  Lord  was  saving,  and  that  seldom  fails 
to  bring  a  crowd  wherever  it  may  be.  That  evening  the  word 
was  with  power,  and  six  souls  cried  for  mercy.  At  the  ear- 
nest solicitations  of  the  people,  I  decided  to  stay  the  remainder 
of  the  week,  and  urged  them  to  pray  earnestly,  with  the  re- 
sult that  many  more  sought  and  found  Salvation,  and  the  little 
Society  was  nearly  doubled. 

"  On  the  Saturday,  just  before  I  started  home  on  the  omni- 
bus, a  plain,  unsophisticated  Christian  came  and  said,  *  O  sir, 
let  me  have  hold  of  your  hand.'  When  he  had  seized  it  be- 
tween both  his,  with  tears  streaming  down  his  face,  he  said, 
*  Glory  be  to  God  that  ever  you  came  here.  My  wife  before 
her  conversion  was  a  cruel  persecutor,  and  a  sharp  thorn  in 
my  side.  She  would  go  home  from  the  Prayer  Meeting  be- 
fore me,  and  as  full  of  the  Devil  as  possible ;  she  would  oppose 
and  revile  me;  but  now,  sir,  she  is  just  the  contrary,  and  my 
house,  instead  of  being  a  little  Hell  has  become  a  little  Para- 
dise.' This  was  only  one  of  a  number  of  cases  in  which  hus- 
bands rejoiced  over  wives,  and  wives  over  husbands,  for  whom 
they  had  long  prayed,  being  saved. 

"  I  shall  always  remember  with  pleasure  the  week  I  spent 
at  Swineshead  Bridge,  because  I  prayed  more  and  preached 
with  more  of  the  spirit  of  expectation  and  faith,  and  then  saw 


34j  general  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

more  success  than  in  any  previous  week  of  my  life.  I  dwell 
upon  it  as,  perhaps,  the  week  which  most  effectually  settled 
my  conviction  for  ever  that  it  was  God's  purpose  by  my  using 
the  simplest  means  to  bring  souls  into  liberty,  and  to  break 
into  the  cold  and  formal  state  of  things  to  which  His  people 
only  too  readily  settle  down." 

For  the  sake  of  readers  who  have  never  seen  Meetings 
such  as  The  General  for  so  many  years  conducted,  it  seems 
at  once  necessary  to  explain  what  is  meant  by  the  terms 
"  seeking  mercy  "  or  ''  Salvation/'  the  *'  cries  for  mercy," 
and,  above  all,  the  "  Mercy-Seat,"  or  "  Penitent-Form," 
which  appear  so  constantly  in  all  reports  of  his  work. 

From  the  first  beginnings  of  his  Cottage  Meetings  as  a 
lad  in  Nottingham,  he  always  aimed  at  leading  every  sinner 
to  repentance,  and  he  always  required  that  repentance 
should  be  openly  manifested  by  the  Penitent  coming  out 
in  the  presence  of  others,  to  kneel  before  God,  to  confess 
to  Him,  and  to  seek  His  pardon. 

This  is  merely  in  accordance  with  the  ancient  customs 
practised  by  the  Jews  in  their  Temple,  to  which  practice 
Jesus  Christ  so  strikingly  calls  attention  in  His  Parable 
of  the  Publican,  who  cried,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sin- 
ner." The  Psalms  of  David  abound  with  just  such  cries 
for  deliverance,  and  with  declarations  that  God  heard  and 
answered  all  those  who  so  cried  to  Him  in  the  anguish  of 
their  guilt. 

The  General  was  never  blind  to  the  fact  that  open  acts 
of  contrition  like  this  may  be  feigned,  or  produced  by  a 
mere  passing  excitement;  but  having  seen  so  much  of  the 
indifference  with  which  men  generally  continue  in  sin,  even 
when  they  admit  their  consciousness  of  guilt  and  danger, 
he  always  thought  the  risk  of  undue  excitement,  or  too 
hasty  action,  comparatively  small. 

The  "  Penitent-Form  "  of  The  Salvation  Army  is  sim- 
ply a  form  or  a  row  of  seats,  immediately  in  front  of  the 
platform,  at  which  all  who  wish  to  seek  Salvation  are  in- 
vited to  kneel,  as  a  public  demonstration  of  their  resolution 
to  abandon  their  sins,  and  to  live  henceforth  to  please  God. 


EARLY  MINISTRY  35 

Those  who  kneel  there  are  urged  to  pray  for  God's  forgive- 
ness, and  when  they  beheve  that  He  does  forgive  them  to 
thank  Him  for  doing  so.  Whilst  kneeling  there  they  are 
spoken  to  by  persons  who,  having  passed  through  the  same 
experience,  can  point  out  to  them  the  evils  and  dangers 
they  must  henceforth  avoid,  and  the  first  duties  which  a 
true  repentance  must  demand  of  them. 

There  are  many  cases,  for  example,  in  which  the  Peni- 
tent is  urged  to  give  up  at  once  some  worldly  habit  or 
companionship,  or  to  make  confession  of,  and  restitution  for, 
some  wrong  done  to  others.  An  Officer  or  Soldier  accom- 
panies the  Penitent  to  his  home  or  to  his  employer,  should 
such  a  course  appear  likely  to  help  him  to  effect  any  recon- 
ciliation, or  take  any  other  step  to  which  his  conscience 
calls  him.  The  names  and  addresses  of  all  Penitents 
are  recorded,  so  that  they  may  be  afterwards  visited 
and  helped  to  carry  out  the  promises  they  have  made  to 
God. 

For  convenience'  sake,  in  very  large  Meetings,  such  as 
those  The  General  himself  held,  where  hundreds  at  a  time 
come  to  the  Penitent-Form,  a  room  called  the  Registration 
Room  is  used  for  the  making  of  the  necessary  inquiries 
and  records.  In  this  room  those  who  decide  to  join  The 
Army  have  a  small  piece  of  ribbon  of  The  Army's  colours 
at  once  attached  to  their  coats.  But  this  Registration 
Room  must  in  no  way  be  confused  with  an  **  Inquiry 
Room,"  where  seeking  souls  can  go  aside  unseen.  The 
General  was  alw^ays  extremely  opposed  to  the  use  of  any 
plan  other  than  that  of  the  Penitent-Form,  lest  there  should 
be  any  distinction  made  between  one  class  and  another,  or 
an  easier  path  contrived  for  those  who  wish  to  avoid  a  bold 
avowal  of  Christ. 

And  he  always  refused  to  allow  any  such  use  of  the 
Bible  in  connexion  with  Penitents  as  has  been  usual  in 
Inquiry  Rooms,  where  the  people  have  been  taught  that 
if  they  only  believed  the  words  of  some  text,  all  would  be 
well  with  them.  The  faith  to  which  The  General  desired 
all  who  came  to  the  Penitent-Form  to  be  led  is  not  the 
mere  belief  of  some  statement,  but  that  confidence  in  God's 


36  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

faithfulness  to  all  His  promises,  which  brings  peace  to  the 
soul. 

Nothing  could  be  more  unjust  than  the  representation 
that  by  the  use  of  the  Penitent-Form  an  attempt  is  made 
to  work  up  excitement,  or  emotion.  Experience  has 
proved,  everywhere,  that  nothing  tends  so  rapidly  to  allay 
the  painful  anxiety  of  a  soul,  hesitating  before  the  great 
decision,  as  the  opportunity  to  take  at  once,  and  publicly,  a 
decisive  step.     We  often  sing: — 

Only  a  step,  only  a  step, 
Why  not  take  it  now? 
Come,  and  thy  sins  confessing, 
Thou  shalt  receive  a  blessing; 
Do  not  reject  the  mercy 
So  freely  offered  thee. 

But  the  Penitent-Form  is  no  modern  invention,  nor  can 
it  be  claimed  as  the  speciality  of  any  set  of  religionists. 
Even  heathen  people  in  past  ages  have  provided  similar 
opportunities  for  those  who  felt  a  special  need  either  to 
thank  their  God  for  blessings  received,  or  to  seek  His  help 
in  any  specific  case,  to  come  forward  in  an  open  way,  and 
confess  their  wants,  their  confidence,  or  their  gratitude,  at 
some  altar  or  shrine. 

Shame  upon  us  all  that  objection  should  ever  be  made  to 
equally  public  avowals  of  penitence,  of  submission,  of  faith, 
or  of  devotion  to  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  The  General, 
at  any  rate,  never  wavered  in  demanding  the  most  speedy 
and  decisive  action  of  this  kind,  and  he  probably  led  more 
souls  to  the  Penitent-Form  than  any  man  who  has  ever 
lived. 

In  Germany  especially  it  has  frequently  been  objected 
that  the  soul  which  is  "  compelled  "  to  take  a  certain  course 
has  in  that  very  fact  manifested  a  debased  and  partly- 
destroyed  condition,  and  that  nothing  can  excuse  the  or- 
ganisation of  methods  of  compulsion.  With  any  such 
theory  one  could  not  but  have  considerable  sympathy,  were 
it  not  for  the  undeniable  fact  that  almost  all  *'  civilised  " 
people  are  perpetually  under  the  extreme  pressure  of  so- 


EARLY  MINISTRY  37 

ciety  around  them,  which  is  opposed  to  prayer,  or  to  any 
movement  of  the  soul  in  that  direction. 

To  check  and  overcome  that  very  palpable  compulsion 
on  the  v^rong  side,  the  most  desperate  action  of  God's  serv- 
ants in  all  ages  has  never  been  found  strong  enough. 
Hence  there  has  come  about  another  sort  of  compulsion, 
v^ithin  the  souls  of  all  God's  messengers.  It  could  not 
but  be  more  agreeable  to  flesh  and  blood  if  the  minds  of 
men  could  more  easily  be  induced  to  turn  from  the  things 
that  are  seen  to  those  which  are  invisible.  But  this  has 
never  yet  been  the  case.  Hence  all  who  really  hear  God's 
voice  cannot  but  become  alarmed  as  to  the  manifest  dan- 
ger that  His  warnings  may  remain  entirely  unheeded. 
When  once  any  soul  is  truly  enlightened,  it  cannot  but  put 
forth  every  devisable  effort  to  compel  the  attention  of 
others. 

The  Army  is  only  the  complete  organisation  of  such 
efforts  for  permanent  efliciency.  We  may  have  had  to  use 
more  extreme  methods  than  many  before  us,  because,  un- 
like those  who  are  the  publicly  recognised  advocates  of 
Christ,  we  have,  in  the  first  instance,  no  regular  hearers  at 
all,  and  have  generally  only  the  ear  of  the  people  so  long 
as  we  can  retain  it,  against  a  hundred  competitions.  And 
yet,  to  those  who  live  near  enough  to  notice  it,  the  exercise 
of  force  by  means  of  church  steeples  and  bells  is  far  more 
violent,  all  the  year  round,  than  the  utmost  attack  of  the 
average  Corps  upon  some  few  occasions. 

Who  complains  of  the  compulsion  of  railway  servants, 
who  by  bell,  flag,  and  whistle,  glaring  announcements,  or 
in  any  other  way,  urge  desiring  passengers  to  get  into  their 
train,  before  it  is  too  late?  Wherever  a  true  faith 
in  the  Gospel  exists.  The  General's  organisation  of  com- 
pulsory plans  for  the  Salvation  of  souls  will  not  only  be 
approved,  but  regarded  as  one  of  the  great  glories  of  his 
life. 

The  "  Will  you  go?  "  of  The  Army,  wherever  its  songs 
are  heard,  has  ever  been  more  than  a  kindly  invitation.  It 
has  been  an  urging  to  which  millions  of  undecided  souls 
will  for  ever  owe  their  deliverance  from  the  dilatory  and 


38  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

hindering  influences  around  them,  into   an  earnest   start 
towards  a  heavenly  hfe. 

That  is  why  The  General  taught  so  many  millions  to 
sing,  in  their  varied  languages,  his  own  song: — 

O  boundless  Salvation!  deep  ocean  of  love, 

0  fulness  of  mercy  Christ  brought  from  above! 
The  whole  world  redeeming,  so  rich  and  so  free, 
Now  flowing  for  all  men — come,  roll  over  me! 

My  sins  they  are  many,  their  stains  are  so  deep, 
And  bitter  the  tears  of  remorse  that  I  weep; 
But  useless  is  weeping,  thou  great  crimson  sea, 
Thy  waters  can  cleanse  me,  come,  roll  over  me! 

My  tempers  are  fitful,  my  passions  are  strong. 

They  bind  my  poor  soul,  and  they  force  me  to  wrong; 

Beneath  thy  blest  billows  deliverance  I  see, 

Oh,  come,  mighty  ocean,  and  roll  over  me! 

Now  tossed  with  temptation,  then  haunted  with  fears. 
My  life  has  been  joyless  and  useless  for  years; 

1  feel  something  better  most  surely  would  be. 
If  once  thy  pure  waters  would  roll  over  me. 

0  ocean  of  mercy,  oft  longing  I've  stood 

On  the  brink  of  thy  wonderful,  life-giving  flood! 
Once  more  I  have  reached  this  soul-cleansing  sea, 

1  will  not  go  back  till  it  rolls  over  me. 

The  tide  is  now  flowing,  Tm  touching  the  wave, 
I  hear  the  loud  call  of  "The  Mighty  to  Save"; 
My  faith's  growing  bolder — delivered  I'll  be — 
I  plunge  'neath  the  waters,  they  roll  over  me. 

And  now.  Hallelujah!  the  rest  of  my  days 
Shall  gladly  be  spent  in  promoting  His  praise 
Who  opened  His  bosom  to  pour  out  this  sea 
Of  boundless  Salvation  for  you  and  for  me. 


Chapter  V 

FIGHT  AGAINST  FORMALITY 

The  Army's  invariable  principle  of  avoiding  even  the  ap- 
pearance of  attacking  any  other  association  of  religionists, 
or  their  ideas  or  practices,  renders  it  difficult  to  explain 
fully  either  why  William  Booth  became  the  regular  min- 
ister of  a  church,  or  why  he  gave  up  that  position;  and  yet 
he  has  himself  told  us  sufficient  to  demonstrate  at  one  stroke 
not  only  the  entire  absence  of  hostility  in  his  mind,  but  the 
absolute  separateness  of  his  way  of  thinking  from  that 
which  so  generally  prevails. 

The  enthusiastic  welcome  given  to  The  General  wherever 
he  went,  by  the  clergy  of  almost  every  Church  indi- 
cates that  he  had  generally  convinced  them  that  he  had  no 
thought  of  attacking  them  or  their  Churches,  even  when 
he  most  heartily  expressed  his  thankfulness  to  God  for  hav- 
ing been  able  to  escape  from  all  those  trammels  of  tradition 
and  form  which  would  have  made  his  great  life-work,  for 
all  nations,  impossible.  And  I  think  there-  are  few  who 
would  nowadays  question  that  his  life,  teaching,  and  ex- 
ample all  tended  greatly  to  modify  many  of  the  Church 
formalities  of  the  past. 

"Just  before  leaving  Lincolnshire,"  he  says,  "I  had  been 
lifted  up  to  a  higher  plane  of  the  daily  round  of  my  beloved 
work  than  I  had  experienced  before.  Oh,  the  stagnation  into 
which  I  had  settled  down,  the  contentment  of  my  mind  with 
the  love  offered  me  at  every  turn  by  the  people !  I  still  aimed 
at  the  Salvation  of  the  unconverted  and  the  spiritual  advance 
of  my  people,  and  still  fought  for  these  results.  Indeed,  I 
never  fell  below  that.  And  yet  if  the  After-Meeting  was  well 
attended,  and  if  one  or  two  Penitents  responded,  I  was  con- 
tent, and  satisfied  myself  with  that  hackneyed  excuse  for  so 
much  unfruitful  work,  that  I  had  *  sown  the  seed/    Having 

39 


40  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

cast  my  bread  on  the  waters,  I  persuaded  myself  that  I  must 
hope  for  its  being  found  by  and  by. 

"But  I  heard  of  a  Rev.  Richard  Poole  who  was  moving 
about  the  country,  and  the  stories  told  me  of  the  results  at- 
tending his  services  had  aroused  in  me  memories  of  the  years 
gone  by,  when  I  thought  little  and  cared  less  about  the  ac- 
ceptability of  my  own  performances,  so  long  as  I  could  drag 
the  people  from  the  jaws  of  Hell. 

"  I  resolved  to  go  and  hear  him.  I  found  him  at  the  house 
of  a  friend  before  the  Meeting,  comparatively  quiet.  How  I 
watched  him!  But  when  I  had  heard  him  preach  from  the 
text,  *  Said  I  not  unto  thee,  that  if  thou  wouldst  believe,  thou 
shouldst  see  the  salvation  of  God,'  and  had  observed  the 
blessed  results,  I  went  to  my  own  chamber — I  remember  that 
it  was  over  a  baker's  shop — and  resolved  that,  regardless  of 
man's  opinions,  and  my  own  gain  or  position,  I  would  ever 
seek  the  one  thing. 

"Whilst  kneeling  in  that  room,  there  came  into  my  soul  a 
fresh  realisation  of  the  greatness  of  the  opportunity  before 
•me  of  leading  men  and  women  out  of  their  miseries  and  their 
sin,  and  of  my  responsibility  to  go  in  for  that  with  all  my 
might.  In  obedience  to  the  heavenly  vision,  I  made  a  con- 
secration of  the  present  and  future,  of  all  I  had,  and  hoped 
to  have,  to  the  fulfilment  of  this  mission,  and  I  believe  God 
accepted  the  offering. 

"I  continued  my  public  efforts  in  line  with  my  new  ex- 
perience." 

Happily  and  freely  as  William  Booth  had  been  allowed 
to  lead  his  people,  hov^ever,  he  and  his  intended  wife  both 
saw  that  there  could  be  no  permanent  prospect  of  victory 
amongst  these  "  Reformers."  The  very  popularity  of  a 
preacher  was  sure  to  lead  to  contention  about  the  sphere 
of  his  labours. 

"The  people,"  he  writes,  "with  whom  I  had  come  into 
union  were  sorely  unorganised,  and  I  could  not  approve  of 
the  uhra-radicalism  that  prevailed.  Consequently,  I  looked 
about  for  a  Church  nearer  my  notions  of  system  and  order, 
and  in  the  one  I  chose,  the  Methodist  New  Connexion,  I 
found  a  people  who  were,  in  those  days,  all  I  could  desire, 


FIGHT  AGAINST  FORMALITY  41 

and  who  received  me  with  as  much  heartiness  as  my  Lincoln- 
shire friends  had  done. 

"  Ignorance  has  different  effects  on  different  people.  Some 
it  puffs  up  with  self-satisfaction.  To  others  it  is  a  source  of 
mortifying  regret.  I  belonged  to  the  latter  class.  I  was  con- 
tinually crying  out,  *  O  God,  how  little  I  am,  and  how  little 
I  know!  Give  me  a  chance  of  acquiring  information,  and  of 
learning  how  more  successfully  to  conduct  this  all-important 
business  of  saving  men  to  which  Thou  hast  called  me,  and 
which  lies  so  near  my  heart.' 

"  To  gratify  this  yearning  for  improvement,  the  Church 
with  which  I  had  come  into  union  gave  me,  at  my  request, 
an  opportunity  of  studying  under  a  then  rather  celebrated 
theologian.  But  instead  of  better  qualifying  me  for  the  work 
of  saving  men,  by  imparting  to  me  the  knowledge  necessary 
for  the  task,  and  showing  me  in  every-day  practice  how  to 
put  it  to  practical  use,  I  was  set  to  study  Latin,  Greek,  various 
Sciences,  and  other  subjects,  which,  as  I  saw  at  a  glance, 
could  little  help  me  in  the  all-important  work  that  lay  before 
me.  However,  I  set  to  work,  and,  with  all  the  powers  I  had, 
commenced  to  wrestle  with  my  studies. 

"  My  Professor  was  a  man  of  beautiful  disposition,  and  had 
an  imposing  presence.  The  books  he  wrote  on  abstract  and 
difficult  theological  problems  were  highly  prized  in  those  days. 
Moreover,  he  belonged  to  a  class  of  preachers,  not  altogether 
unknown  to-day,  who  have  a  real  love  for  that  order  of 
preaching  which  convicts  and  converts  the  soul,  although  un- 
able to  practise  it  themselves.  He  knew  a  good  thing  when 
he  saw  it. 

"  The  first  time  he  heard  me  preach  was  on  a  Sunday  even- 
ing. I  saw  him  seated  before  me,  at  the  end  of  the  church. 
I  knew  he  was  going  to  judge  me,  and  I  realised  that  my 
future  standing  in  his  estimation,  as  well  as  my  position  in  the 
Society  I  had  now  made  my  home,  would  probably  very  much 
depend  on  the  judgment  he  formed  of  me  on  that  occasion. 

"  I  am  not  ashamed  to  say  that  I  wanted  to  stand  well  with 
him.  I  knew  also  that  my  simple,  practical  style  was  alto- 
gether different  from  his  own,  and  from  that  of  the  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  preachers  he  was  accustomed  to 
approve.  But  my  mind  was  made  up.  I  had  no  idea  of 
altering  my  aim  or  style  to  please  him,  the  world,  or  the 
Devil. 

"I  saw  dying  souls  before  me,  the  gates  of  Heaven  wide 


42  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

open  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  gates  of  Hell  open  on  the 
other,  while  I  saw  Jesus  Christ  with  His  arms  open  between 
the  two,  crying  out  to  all  to  come  and  be  saved.  My  whole 
soul  was  in  favour  of  doing  what  it  could  to  second  the  invi- 
tation of  my  Lord,  and  doing  it  that  very  night. 

"I  cannot  now  remember  much  about  the  service,  except 
the  sight  of  my  Professor,  with  his  family  around  him,  a 
proud,  worldly  daughter  sitting  at  his  side.  I  can  remember, 
however,  that  in  my  desire  to  impress  the  people  with  the 
fact  that  they  could  have  Salvation  there  and  then,  if  they 
would  seek  it,  and,  to  illustrate  their  condition,  I  described  a 
wreck  on  the  ocean,  with  the  affrighted  people  clinging  to 
the  masts  between  life  and  death,  waving  a  flag  of  distress 
to  those  on  shore,  and,  in  response,  the  life-boat  going  off  to 
the  rescue.  And  then  I  can  remember  how  I  reminded  my 
hearers  that  they  had  suffered  shipwreck  on  the  ocean  of 
time  through  their  sins  and  rebellion;  that  they  were  sinking 
down  to  destruction,  but  that  if  they  would  only  hoist  the 
signal  of  distress  Jesus  Christ  would  send  off  the  life-boat  to 
their  rescue.  Then,  jumping  on  the  seat  at  the  back  of  the 
pulpit,  I  waved  my  pocket-handkerchief  round  and  round  my 
head  to  represent  the  signal  of  distress  I  wanted  them  to 
hoist,  and  closed  with  an  appeal  to  those  who  wanted  to  be 
rescued  to  come  at  once,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  audience, 
to  the  front  of  the  auditorium.  That  night  twenty-four  knelt 
at  the  Saviour's  feet,  and  one  of  them  was  the  proud  daughter 
of  my  Professor. 

"  The  next  morning  was  the  time  for  examination  and 
criticism  of  the  previous  day's  work,  and  I  had  to  appear  be- 
fore this  Doctor  of  Divinity.  I  entered  the  room  with  a 
fellow-student.  He  was  put  through  first.  After  listening  to 
the  Doctor's  judgment  on  his  performance  my  turn 
came.  I  was  not  a  little  curious  as  to  what  his  opinion  would 
be. 

"'Well,  Doctor,'  I  said,  'what  have  you  to  say  to  me? 
You  heard  me  last  night.  What  is  your  judgment  on  my  poor 
performance  ? ' 

"  *  My  dear  Sir,'  he  answered,  *  I  have  only  one  thing  to  say 
to  you,  and  that  is,  go  on  in  the  way  you  have  begun,  and 
God  will  bless  you.* 

"  But  other  difficulties  were  not  far  away,  for  I  had  hardly 
settled  down  to  my  studies  before  I  got  into  a  red-hot  Revival 
in  a  small  London  church  where  a  remarkable  work  was  done. 


FIGHT  AGAINST  FORMALITY  43 

In  an  account  of  this  effort  my  name  appeared  in  the  church's 
Magazine,  and  I  was  invited  to  conduct  special  efforts  in  other 
parts  of  the  country.  This,  I  must  confess,  completely  upset 
my  plans  once  more,  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  heart  or 
time  for  either  Greek  or  Latin  from  that  day  to  this." 

How  sincerely  this  curious  student  longed  for  improve- 
ment is  manifested  in  the  follov^ing  entry  in  his  Journal, 
written,  I  presume,  on  a  Monday  morning  when  it  was 
thought  that  some  relaxation  of  his  studies  following  a 
Sunday's  services  would  be  advantageous: — 

"Monday. — Visited  the  British  Museum.  Walked  up  and 
dow^n  there  praying  that  God  v^ould  enable  me  to  acquire 
knowledge  to  increase  my  power  of  usefulness." 

iWho  will  doubt  that  that  Museum  prayer  was  heard 
and  answered? 

The  Church  he  had  joined  was  governed  by  an  annual 
assembly,  called  the  Conference,  at  which  candidates  for 
the  ministry  were  accepted  into  it,  and  were  appointed  to 
some  sphere  of  labour  called  a  Circuit.  Just  before  the 
Conference  met  he  was  astonished  to  hear  that  it  was  pro- 
posed to  appoint  him  as  Superintendent  of  a  London  Cir- 
cuit. He  was  able  to  persuade  the  authorities  concerned 
to  alter  this  intention  on  the  ground  of  his  comparative  lack 
of  experience,  although  he  expressed  his  willingness  to  take 
the  post  of  assistant  minister  under  whomsoever  the  Con- 
ference might  appoint  as  Superintendent. 

In  due  course,  the  appointment  was  made,  and  he  found 
himself  assistant  to  a  Superintendent  who,  he  tells  us,  was 
"  stiff,  hard,  and  cold,  making  up,  in  part,  for  the  want  of 
heart  and  thought  in  his  public  performances  by  what 
sounded  like  a  sanctimonious  wail." 

This  gentleman  strongly  objected  when,  as  a  result  of 
the  reports  of  Mr.  Booth's  services  appearing  in  the  Press, 
he  was  urgently  invited  to  visit  other  places,  as  he  had 
visited  Guernsey.  The  Conference  authorities,  however, 
prevailed,  and  insisted,  in  the  general  interest,  upon  his 


44  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

place  in  London  being  taken  by  another  preacher,  and  his 
services  being  utilised  wherever  called  for. 

It  was  thus  by  no  choice  of  his  own,  but  by  the  arrange- 
ment of  his  Church,  that  Mr.  Booth,  instead  of  remaining 
tied  down  to  the  ordinary  routine  of  pastoral  life,  was  sent 
for  some  time  from  place  to  place  to  conduct  such  evange- 
lising Campaigns  as  his  soul  delighted  in.  Who  can  doubt 
that  God's  hand  was  in  this  disposal  of  his  time?  He  was 
allowed  to  marry,  though  his  young  wife  had  to  content 
herself  with  but  occasional  brief  spells  of  association  with 
him. 

His  Campaigns  were  really  wonderful  in  their  success. 
He  would  go  for  a  fortnight,  or  even  less,  to  some  city 
where  the  congregation  had  dwindled  almost  to  nothing, 
and  where  one  or  two  services  a  week,  conducted  in  a  very 
quiet  and  formal  way,  were  maintained  with  difficulty, 
owing  to  the  indifference  or  hopelessness  of  both  minister 
and  people.  For  the  period  of  his  stay  all  the  usual  pro- 
gramme would  be  laid  aside,  however,  and  he  would  be 
left  free  to  carry  out  his  own  plans  of  daily  service. 

How  remarkable  to  find  him  so  completely  carrying  with 
him  all  who  had  been  accustomed  to  the  old  forms,  and  in- 
troducing, with  the  evident  sanction  of  the  president  and 
authorities  of  his  Church,  such  re-arrangements,  records, 
and  reorganisation  as  he  desired. 

But  the  strange,  the  almost  inexplicable  thing  is  that, 
without  his  even  remarking  upon  it,  all  should  go  back  to 
the  old  forms  the  moment  his  Campaign  ended ! 

What  is  not  at  all  strange  is  that  there  should  have  grown 
up  within  the  Church  a  strong  opposition  to  him,  so  that, 
at  the  end  of  two  and  a  half  years,  a  majority  of  the  Con- 
ference voted  against  his  continuing  these  Campaigns,  and 
required  him  to  resume  the  ordinary  routine  of  the  minis- 
try. Surely,  any  one  might  have  foreseen  that  unless  the 
old  forms  could  be  altered  in  favour  of  the  new  regime, 
the  leader  of  this  warfare  must  submit  to  the  old  routine. 
True,  he  might  try  to  carry  out  in  his  Circuit,  to  the  utmost 
of  his  power,  his  ideas  of  free  and  daily  warfare;  but, 
unless  all  who  were  under  him  in  the  various  places  which 


FIGHT  AGAINST  FORMALITY  46 

constituted  a  Methodist  Circuit  would  constantly  agree  and 
co-operate,  no  one  man  could  prevent  the  old  forms  from 
prevailing. 

But  William  Booth  was  no  revolutionist,  and  his  willing- 
ness and  submission  to  carry  on  the  old  routine,  with  little 
alteration,  for  four  successive  years  surely  proved  that  no 
desire  for  personal  exaltation  or  mastery,  but  only  the  con- 
quest of  souls,  was  his  guiding  influence. 

In  those  four  years,  spent  in  Brighouse  and  Gateshead, 
he  tried  to  introduce  into  the  churches  as  much  as  he  could 
of  the  life  of  warfare  which  he  considered  necessary.  In 
one  year  he  so  far  won  over  the  officialdom  of  Brighouse 
that  they  desired  his  reappointment;  whilst  in  Gateshead 
he  so  transformed  the  Circuit  that  before  many  weeks  had 
passed  the  Central  Chapel,  which  had  hitherto  borne  the 
dignified  but  cool-sounding  name  of  "  Bethesda,"  was 
dubbed  by  the  mechanics,  who  formed  the  bulk  of  the  sur- 
rounding population,  "  The  Converting  Shop." 

To  those  iron  workers,  accustomed  daily  to  see  masses 
of  metal  suddenly  changed,  whilst  in  a  red-hot  state,  into 
any  desired  form  by  the  action  of  powerful  machinery,  set 
up  for  the  purpose,  such  a  name  was  both  intelligible  and 
expressive. 

It,  moreover,  accorded  with  the  new  pastor's  idea  of  the 
proper  utilisation  of  any  building  devoted  to  the  worship 
of  Jesus  Christ.  There  ought  to  be  felt  there,  he  thought, 
that  marvellous  heat  of  Divine  Love  which  was  implied  in 
Christ's  engagement  to  "  baptise  "  all  His  followers  "  with 
fire,"  and  the  services  should  above  all  else,  be  such  as 
would  ensure  the  immediate  conversion  to  God  of  all  who 
came  under  their  influence. 

But  in  Gateshead  The  General  was  to  discover  the  most 
potent  force  that  could  be  brought  to  bear  upon  all  these 
questions,  in  the  liberation  of  Mrs.  Booth  from  the  cus- 
tomary silence  which  Church  system  has  almost  universally 
imposed  upon  woman.  It  might  almost  be  said  that  the 
whole  problem  of  cold  formality,  as  against  loving  warmth, 
can  be  solved  by  woman's  liberation.  True,  in  the  ordinary 
state  of  things,  the  most  excellent  ladies  of  any  church  be- 


46  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

come  its  most  conservative  bulwarks ;  and,  fortified,  as  they 
imagine,  by  a  few  words  in  one  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles,  such 
ladies  can  oppose  every  new  spiritual  force  as  powerfully 
as  some  of  them  opposed  him  in  Antioch,  nineteen  hundred 
years  ago.  But  **  daughters  "  of  God  who  have  been  hb- 
erated  by  His  Spirit  generally  make  short  work  of  any  con- 
tinued opposition. 

Mrs.  Booth,  herself  trained  and  hitherto  fettered  by  this 
old  school  of  silence,  to  the  astonishment  of  every  one 
prayed  in  the  church  on  the  first  Sunday  evening  in  Gates- 
head. The  opposition  of  an  influential  pastor,  in  a  neigh- 
bouring city,  to  the  public  ministrations  of  a  Mrs.  Palmer, 
a  visitor  from  the  United  States,  very  soon  afterwards  led 
Mrs.  Booth  to  defend  her  sister's  action  in  the  Press,  and 
thus  to  see  more  clearly  than  before  what  God  could  do 
through  her,  if  she  was  willing. 

The  General  had  not  yet  seen  the  importance  of  this 
advance,  and,  in  view  of  his  wife's  delicate  health,  had  not 
pressed  her  into  any  sort  of  activity,  much  as  he  had  valued 
her  perfect  fellowship  with  him  in  private.  But  he  re- 
joiced, of  course,  in  her  every  forward  step,  and  when  she 
not  only  visited  a  street  of  the  most  godless  and  drunken 
people  in  the  neighbourhood,  but  began  to  speak  in  the 
services,  he  gave  her  all  the  weight  of  his  official  as  well 
as  his  personal  sanction,  little  imagining  at  the  time  what  a 
mighty  force  for  the  spread  of  the  truth  he  was  thus  enlist- 
ing. 

After  faithfully  serving  the  Church  in  Gateshead  for 
three  years,  he  found  the  Conference  no  more  willing  than 
before  to  release  him  for  the  evangelistic  work  which  now 
both  he  and  his  wife  more  and  more  longed  for. 

The  final  scene,  when,  in  a  Conference  at  Liverpool,  Mrs. 
Booth  confirmed  The  General's  resolution  to  refuse  to  con- 
tinue even  for  one  more  year  his  submission  to  form,  by 
calling  out  "  Never ! "  marked  a  stage  in  his  career  which 
was  decisive  in  a  startling  way  as  to  the  whole  of  his  future. 

"  It  is  true  that  I  had  a  wonderful  sphere  of  usefulness  and 
happiness,"  says  The  General;  "but  I  was  not  contented.     I 


FIGHT  AGAINST  FORMALITY  47 

had  many  reasons  for  dissatisfaction,  ll  was  cribbed,  cabined, 
and  confined  by  a  body  of  cold,  hard  usages,  and  still  colder 
and  harder  people.  I  desired  freedom!  I  felt  I  was  called  to 
a  different  sphere  of  labour.  I  wanted  liberty  to  move  for- 
ward in  it.  So  when  the  Conference  definitely  declined  my 
request  to  set  me  free  for  evangelistic  work  I  bade  them  fare- 
well. J 

"  If  was  a  heart-breaking  business.  Here  was  a  great  crowd 
of  people  all  over  the  land  who  loved  me  and  my  dear  wife. 
I  felt  a  deep  regard  for  them,  and  to  leave  them  was  a  sorrow 
beyond  description.  But  I  felt  I  must  follow  what  appeared  to 
be  the  beckoning  finger  of  my  Lord.  So,  with  my  wife  and 
four  little  children,  I  left  my  quarters  and  went  out  into  the 
world  once  more,  trusting  in  God,  literally  not  knowing  who 
would  give  me  a  shilling,  or  what  to  do  or  where  to  go. 

"  All  my  earthly  friends  thought  I  was  mistaken  in  this  ac- 
tion ;  some  of  them  deemed  me  mad.  I  confess  that  it  was  one 
of  the  most  perplexing  steps  of  my  life.  When  I  took  it  every 
avenue  seemed  closed  against  me.  There  was  one  thing  I 
could  do,  however,  and  that  was  to  trust  in  God,  and  wait 
for  His  Salvation." 

The  difficulty  of  the  Church  was  really  insurmountable 
at  that  time.  Since  those  days  most  of  the  Protestant 
Churches  have  learnt  that  evangelistic  work  is  just  as  essen- 
tial as  the  ordinary  pastoral  ministrations. 

The  fact  is,  that  neither  the  Booths  nor  the  Church  were 
then  aware  that  God,  behind  all  their  perplexities,  was 
working  out  a  plan  of  His  own.  Who  laments  that  sep- 
aration to-day?  As  the  evangelists  of  any  Church  they 
could  not  possibly  have  become  to  so  large  an  extent  the 
evangelists  of  all. 


Chapter  VI 

REVIVALISM 

Not  many  days  passed  after  William  Booth's  retirement 
from  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  New  Connexion  before 
his  faith  was  rewarded  by  a  warm  invitation  to  a  small 
place  at  the  other  end  of  the  country.  One  of  his  former 
Converts  was  a  minister  in  the  little  seaport  Hayle,  in  Corn- 
wall, and  he  sent  the  call,  "  Come  over  and  help  us." 

The  Church  had  got  into  the  stagnant  condition  which 
is  so  commonly  experienced  wherever  contentment  with 
routine  long  holds  sway.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Booth  were  not 
only  welcomed,  but  given  a  free  hand  to  take  any  course 
they  pleased  to  fill  the  building  with  hearers,  and  to  secure 
their  Salvation. 

Fighting  now  together,  as  they  had  learnt  to  do  at  Gates- 
head, they  saw  results  more  rapid  and  striking  than  they 
had  ever  known  before,  although  they  found  themselves 
face  to  face  with  a  population  more  disinclined  for  novelty, 
and  especially  for  the  novelties  they  introduced,  than  any 
they  had  before  had  to  deal  with.  The  General  thus  de- 
scribed at  the  time  for  the  Connexional  Magazine  some  of 
his  first  battles  in  Cornwall : — 

"  Hayle,  Cornwall. 
"When  in  London,  you  requested  me  to  send  now  and  then 
a  report  of  the  Lord's  working  in  connexion  with  my  ministry, 
and  thinking  that  the  following  account  of  the  Revival  now  in 
progress  here  will  be  interesting  to  you,  I  forward  it.  We 
arrived  here  on  the  loth  inst.,  and  commenced  labour  on  the 
following  Sabbath.  The  chapel  was  crowded.  Gracious  in- 
fluences accompanied  the  word.  Many  appeared  to  be  deeply 
convicted  of  sin,  but  no  decided  cases  of  conversion  took  place 
that  day.  On  Monday  afternoon  we  had  a  service  for  Chris- 
tians, and  spoke  on  the  hindrances  to  Christian  labour  and 
Christian  joy.    Evening,  chapel   crowded.    Very  solemn  sea- 

48 


REVIVALISM  49 

son.  Nearly  all  the  congregation  stayed  to  the  Prayer  Meet- 
ing that  followed,  and  many  appeared  deeply  affected,  but 
refused  to  seek  the  mercy  of  God.  A  strong  prejudice  pre- 
vails here  against  the  custom  of  inviting  anxious  inquirers 
to  any  particular  part  of  the  building.  The  friends  told  me 
that  this  plan  never  had  succeeded  in  Cornwall;  but  I  thought 
it  the  best,  considering  the  crowded  state  of  the  chapel,  and 
therefore  determined  to  try  it.  I  gave  a  short  address,  and 
again  invited  those  who  wished  to  decide  for  Christ  to  come 
forward.  After  waiting  a  minute  or  two,  the  solemn  silence 
was  broken  by  the  cries  of  a  woman  who  at  once  left  her 
pew,  and  fell  down  at  the  Mercy-Seat,  and  became  the  first- 
fruits  of  what  I  trust  will  be  a  glorious  harvest  of  immortal 
souls.  She  was  quickly  followed  by  others,  when  a  scene 
ensued  beyond  description.  The  cries  and  groans  were  pierc- 
ing in  the  extreme;  and  when  the  stricken  spirits  apprehended 
Jesus  as  their  Saviour,  the  shouts  of  praise  and  thanksgiving 
were  in  proportion  to  the  previous  sorrow. 

"Tuesday  Evening. — Congregation  again  large.  Prayer 
Meeting  similar  to  Monday  night,  and  some  very  blessed  cases 
of  conversion. 

"Wednesday. — Chapel  full.  Mrs.  Booth  spoke  with  much 
influence  and  power.  Glorious  Prayer  Meeting.  An  old 
woman  who  found  the  Saviour  jumped  on  her  feet,  and  shouted, 
with  her  face  beaming  with  heavenly  radiance,  *  He's  saved 
me!  Glory  to  God!  He's  saved  me,  an  old  sinner,  sixty- 
three.  Glory  to  God ! '  Other  cases  of  great  interest  trans- 
pired, and  the  people,  with  swimming  eyes,  and  glowing  hearts^ 
sang — 

"  *  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow.* 

"  Thursday. — Preached  from  *  Him  that  cometh  to  Me  I 
will  in  nowise  cast  out.*  Had  a  blessed  Meeting.  A  woman 
who  had  herself  found  Jesus  during  the  week,  pointed  me  ta 
her  husband.  Found  him  fully  enlightened  and  deeply  con- 
victed. I  urged  him  to  immediate  decision  and  the  full  sur- 
render of  himself  to  God.  He  came  out,  and  fell  down  among 
the  Penitents.  He  remained  there  about  an  hour.  The  Meet- 
ing could  not  be  concluded  until  near  eleven  o'clock,  and  many 
were  very  reluctant  to  retire  even  then. 

"Friday. — The  first  thing  this  morning  my  host  informed 
me  that  he  had  just  heard  of  a  mason  who  had  been  at  the 
services  every  night,  and  who  had  resolved  to  stop  work  until 
he  found  the  Lord.     Soon  after  a  young  lady  came  in  to  tell 


so  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

us  of  a  woman  who  had  found  peace  during  the  night.  At 
the  family  altar  this  morning,  a  woman  in  the  employ  of  the 
gentleman  with  whom  we  are  staying  commenced  to  bemoan 
lier  sinful  condition  and  to  cry  for  mercy.  I  asked  her  to  re- 
main, and  pointed  her  to  Jesus,  and  she  soon  found  rest  through 
believing.  In  the  afternoon,  met  several  anxious  persons  for 
prayer  and  conversation.  In  the  evening  we  had  announced 
a  public  Prayer  Meeting.  Before  we  reached  the  chapel  we 
could  hear  the  cries  and  prayers  of  those  already  assembled. 
On  entering,  we  found  a  strong  man  praising  God  at  the  top 
of  his  voice  for  hearing  his  prayer  and  pardoning  his  sins.  It 
was  the  mason.  He  had  been  under  deep  concern  for  three 
days;  had  not  slept  at  all  the  night  before,  but  after  a  day's 
agony,  he  had  found  Jesus;  and  such  tumultuous,  rapturous  joy 
I  think  I  never  witnessed.  Again  and  again,  during  the  even- 
ing, he  broke  out  with  a  voice  that  drowned  all  others,  and 
rose  above  our  songs  of  praise  ascribing  glory  to  Jesus  for  what 
He  had  done  for  his  soul.  There  were  many  other  cases  of 
almost  equal  interest.  The  Meeting  was  not  closed  until  eleven. 
"  About  midnight,  the  Rev.  J.  Shone,  the  minister  in  charge 
of  the  church,  was  called  out  to  visit  a  woman  who  was  in 
great  distress.  He  afterwards  described  her  agony  in  seeking, 
and  her  joy  in  finding,  the  Lord,  together  with  the  sympathy 
and  exultation  of  her  friends  with  her,  as  one  of  the  most 
thrilling  scenes  he  ever  witnessed." 

In  a  later  report  The  General  wrote: — 

"Hayle,  Cornwall. 
"The  work  of  the  Lord  here  goes  on  gloriously.  The  serv- 
ices have  progressed  with  increasing  power  and  success,  and 
now  the  whole  neighbourhood  is  moved.  Conversion  is  the 
topic  of  conversation  in  all  sorts  of  society.  Every  night, 
crowds  are  unable  to  gain  admission  to  the  sanctuary.  The 
oldest  man  in  the  church  cannot  remember  any  religious  move- 
ment of  equal  power.  During  the  second  week,  the  Wesleyans 
opened  a  large  room  for  united  Prayer  Meetings  at  noon; 
since  then,  by  their  invitation,  we  have  on  several  occasions 
spoken  in  their  chapels  to  densely  crowded  audiences;  services 
being  simultaneously  conducted  in  the  chapel  where  the  move- 
ment originally  commenced.  One  remarkable  and  gratifying 
feature  of  the  work  is  the  large  number  of  men  who  are  found 


REVIVALISM  51 

every  night  amongst  those  who  are  anxious.  Never  have  I 
seen  so  many  men  at  the  same  time  smiting  their  breasts,  and 
crying,  *  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner,'  Strong  men,  old 
men,  young  men,  weeping  like  children,  broken-hearted  on  ac- 
count of  their  sins.  A  number  of  these  are  sailors,  and  scarcely 
a  ship  has  gone  out  of  this  port  the  last  few  days  without 
taking  among  its  crew  one  or  more  souls  newly-born  for 
Heaven." 


Can  it  be  believed  that  just  such  victories  as  these  led  to 
the  closing  of  almost  all  the  Churches  against  him? 

"In  these  days,"  The  General  has  more  recently  written, 
"  it  has  become  almost  the  fashion  for  the  Churches  to  hold 
yearly  *  revival '  or  *  special '  services,  but  forty  years  ago  they 
were  as  unanimously  opposed  to  anything  of  the  kind,  and  com- 
pelled me  to  gain  outside  every  Church  organisation  the  one 
liberty  I  desired — to  seek  and  save  the  lost  ones,  who  never 
enter  any  place  of  worship  whatever. 

"  Let  nobody  suppose  that  I  cherish  any  resentment  against 
any  of  the  Churches  on  account  of  their  former  treatment  of 
me,  or  that  I  have  a  desire  to  throw  a  stone  at  any  of  them. 
From  any  such  feelings  I  believe  that  God  has  most  mercifully 
preserved  me  all  my  life,  and  I  rejoice  in  the  kindness  on  this 
account  with  which  they  load  me  now  in  every  land,  as  testi- 
monies to  that  fact. 

"  But  I  want  to  make  it  clear  to  readers  in  lands  far  away 
from  Christendom  why  I  was  driven  into  the  formation  of  an 
Organisation  entirely  outside  every  Christian  Church  in  order 
to  accomplish  my  object,  and  why  my  people  everywhere,  whilst 
having  no  more  desire  than  myself  to  come  into  dispute,  or 
even  discussion,  with  any  Church  near  them,  must  needs  act 
as  independently  of  them  all  as  I  have  done,  no  matter  how 
friendly  they  may  now  be  to  us. 

"  Nothing  could  be  more  charming  than  the  present  atti- 
tude towards  us  of  every  religious  community  in  the  United 
States,  from  the  Roman  Catholics,  whose  Archbishop  has  pub- 
licly commended  us,  to  the  Mormons,  who  are  generally  re- 
garded as  enemies  of  all  Christianity,  and  the  Friends  (com- 
monly called  Quakers)  whose  ideas  of  worship  seem  to  be  at 
the  uttermost  extreme  from  ours.  All  are  satisfied  that  I  and 
my  people  are  not  wishful  to  find  fault  with  any  religious 


«2  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

body  whatever,  but  to  spend  all  our  time  and  energy  in  com- 
bating the  great  evils  of  godlessness  and  selfishness  which 
threaten  to  sweep  away  all  the  people  everywhere  from  any 
thought  above  material  things. 

"Yet  we  have  had  to  forbid  our  people  to  accept  too  often 
the  pressing  invitations  that  pour  upon  them  from  all  sides 
to  hold  Meetings  in  Church  buildings,  lest  they  should  lose 
touch  with  the  masses  outside,  and  begin  to  be  content  with 
audiences  of  admirers. 

"  The  thirty-six  years  of  my  life  whilst  I  was  groping  about 
in  vain  for  a  home  and  fellowship  amongst  Churches  gave  me 
to  understand,  as  only  experience  can,  what  are  the  thoughts 
and  feelings  of  the  millions  in  Christian  lands,  who  not  only 
never  enter  a  church,  but  who  feel  it  to  be  inconceivable  that 
they  ever  should  do  so. 

"If  this  experience  has  been  invaluable  to  us  in  Christian 
lands,  how  much  more  so  is  it  in  the  far  vaster  countries  of 
Asia  and  Africa,  where  our  work  is  only  as  yet  in  its  begin- 
nings. When  I  went  to  Japan,  the  entire  missionary  com- 
munity everywhere  united  to  uphold  me  as  the  exemplar  of 
true  Christlike  action  for  the  good  of  all  men.  But  the  leaders 
of  all  the  five  sects  of  Buddhism  were  no  less  unanimous  in 
their  welcome  to  me,  or  in  their  expressions  of  prayerful  de- 
sire for  the  success  of  my  work. 

"  In  India  and  Africa  I  have  repeatedly  seen  supporting  me 
in  my  indoor  and  outdoor  demonstrations  the  leaders  of  the 
Hindu,  Parsee,  Sikh,  Buddhist,  Jewish,  and  Mohammedan 
communities,  who  had  never  met  with  the  Christians  in  so 
friendly  a  way  before.  I  cannot  think  this  would  have  been 
the  case  had  I  ever  become  settled  amongst  any  Christian 
body  in  this  country. 

"  Can  any  one  wonder  then  that  I  see  in  all  the  unpleasant 
experiences  of  my  early  days  the  hand  of  God  Himself,  lead- 
ing me  by  a  way  that  I  knew  not — that  I  could  scarcely  believe 
indeed  at  the  time  to  be  His  way.  Why  should  it  have  been 
so  difficult  for  a  man,  who  only  wished  to  lead  the  lost  ones 
to  the  great  Shepherd  who  seeks  them  all  to  get  or  to  remain 
within  any  existing  fold,  if  it  was  not  that  there  lay  before  me 
and  my  Soldiers  conquests  infinitely  greater  and  more  impor- 
tant than  had  ever  yet  been  made? 

"  Oh,  with  what  impatience  I  turn  from  the  very  thought  of 
any  of  the  squabbles  of  Christian  sects  when  I  see  all  around 
me  the  millions  who  want  to  avoid  any  thought  of  their  great 


REVIVALISM  5S 

Friend  and  Father,  and  of  the  coming  Judge  before  whom  we 
must  all,  perhaps  this  very  day,  appear." 

How  easily  excuses,  which  sound  most  plausible,  are 
found  for  every  sort  of  negligence  in  the  service  of  God — 
indeed,  for  not  serving  Him  at  all ! 

"  It  is  not  my  way,  you  see,'*  says  some  one,  who  does 
not  like  to  make  any  open  profession  of  interest  in  Jesus 
Christ,  as  though  our  own  preferences  or  opinions  were  to 
be  the  governing  consideration  in  all  that  affects  the  inter- 
ests of  "  our  Lord  " ! 

The  General  has  proved  that  the  old  ideas  connected 
with  "  the  Master  "  can  not  only  be  revived  but  acted  up 
to  in  our  day,  and  the  sense  of  shame  for  idle  excuses  drive 
out  all  the  paltry  pleas  set  up  for  indifference  to  the  general 
ruin. 

"  At  this  season,  nothing  can  be  done "  is  as  coolly 
pleaded  to-day  as  if  "  in  season,  out  of  season  "  had  never 
been  written  in  our  Divine  Order-Book. 

How  often  our  forces  in  the  midst  of  fairs,  and  race- 
days,  and  "  slack  times,"  have  demonstrated  that  real  sol- 
diers of  Christ  can  snatch  victory,  just  when  all  around 
seems  to  ensure  their  defeat! 

When  The  General  began  to  form  his  Army,  it  was 
ordinarily  assumed  as  a  settled  principle  that  Open-Air 
Work  could  only  be  done  in  fine  weather,  and  the  theory 
is  still  existent  in  many  quarters.  As  if  the  comfort  and 
convenience  of  "  the  workers,"  and  not  the  danger  and 
misery  of  the  people,  were  to  fix  the  times  of  such  effort! 

"  But  the  people  will  not  come,"  is  even  now  pleaded  as 
an  excuse  for  the  omission  or  abandonment  of  any  imag- 
inable attempt  to  do  good.  As  if  the  people's  general  dis- 
inclination for  anything  that  has  to  do  with  God  were  not 
the  precise  reason  for  His  wish  to  "  send  out "  His  serv- 
ants! 

"  Such  a  plan  would  never  succeed  here,"  is  an  almost 
invariable  excuse  made  for  not  undertaking  anything  new. 
The  General  was  never  blind  to  differences  between  this 
and  that  locality  and  population.     But  he  insisted  that  no 


54  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

plan  that  could  be  devised  by  those  on  any  given  spot,  and 
especially  no  plan  that  has  manifestly  been  blessed  and 
used  by  God  elsewhere  should  be  dismissed  without  proper, 
earnest  trial. 

"  But  that  has  never  been  done,  or  has  never  done  well 
here,"  seemed  to  him  rather  a  reason  for  trying  it  with, 
perhaps,  some  little  modification  than  for  leaving  a  plan 
untried.  The  inexorable  law  to  which  he  insisted  that 
everything  should  bend  was  that  nothing  can  excuse  in- 
activity and  want  of  enterprise  where  souls  are  perishing. 
And  he  was  spared  to  see  even  Governments  beginning  to 
recognise  that  it  is  inexcusable  to  let  sin  triumph  in  "  a 
Christian  country."  He  proved  that  it  was  possible  to 
raise  up  "  Christian  Soldiers,"  who  would  not  only  sing, 
or  hear  singing,  in  beautiful  melody  about  "  Marching, 
onward  as  to  War  " ;  but  who  would  really  do  it,  even  when 
it  led  to  real  battle. 


Chapter  VII 

EAST  LONDON  BEGINNING 

What  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Booth  to  do?  They  were  ex- 
cluded from  most  of  the  Churches  in  which  during  the  last 
twenty  years  they  had  led  so  many  souls  to  Christ.  They 
found  themselves  out  of  harmony  with  most  of  the  unde- 
nominational evangelists  of  the  day,  and,  moreover,  they 
had  experienced  throughout  even  the  brightest  of  their  past 
years  a  gnawing  dissatisfaction  with  much  of  their  work, 
which  The  General  thus  described  in  the  preface  to  his 
book,  In  Darkest  England ,  and  the  Way  Out: — 

"All  the  way  through  my  career  I  have  keenly  felt  the 
remedial  measures  usually  enumerated  in  Christian  pro- 
grammes, and  ordinarily  employed  by  Christian  philanthropy, 
to  be  lamentably  inadequate  for  any  effectual  dealing  with  the 
despairing  miseries  of  the  outcast  classes.  The  rescued  are 
appallingly  few,  a  ghastly  minority  compared  with  the  multi- 
tudes who  struggle  and  sink  in  the  open-mouthed  abyss.  Alike, 
therefore,  my  humanity  and  my  Christianity,  if  I  may  speak 
of  them  as  in  any  way  separate  from  each  other,  have  cried 
out  for  some  comprehensive  method  of  reaching  and  saving 
the  perishing  crowds." 

The  Booths  had  settled  m  a  London  home,  finding  that 
they  must  needs  have  some  fixed  resting-place  for  their 
children,  and  that  abundant  opportunities  of  one  kind  or 
another  could  be  found  for  them  both  in  the  metropolis. 
But  The  General,  who  was  "  waiting  upon  God,  and  won- 
dering what  would  happen  "  to  open  his  way  to  the  un- 
churched masses,  received  an  invitation  to  undertake  some 
services  in  a  tent  which  had  been  erected  in  an  old  burial- 
ground  in  Whitechapel,  the  expected  missioner  having  fallen 
ill !     He  consented,  and  he  thus  describes  his  experiences :— - 

55 


56  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

I  "  When  I  saw  those  masses  of  poor  people,  so  many  of  them 
j  evidently  without  God  or  hope  in  the  world,  and  found  that 
y  they  so  readily  and  eagerly  listened  to  me,  following  from 
y.  Open-Air  Meeting  to  tent,  and  accepting,  in  many  instances, 
I  my  invitation  to  kneel  at  the  Saviour's  feet  there  and  then,  my 
/  whole  heart  went  out  to  them.  I  walked  back  to  our  West- 
End  home  and  said  to  my  wife: — 

"*0  Kate,  I  have  found  my  destiny!  These  are  the  people 
for  whose  Salvation  I  have  been  longing  all  these  years.  As 
I  passed  by  the  doors  of  the  flaming  gin-palaces  to-night  I 
seemed  to  hear  a  voice  sounding  in  my  ears,  "Where  can  you 
go  and  find  such  heathen  as  these,  and  where  is  there  so  great 
a  need  for  your  labours?"  And  there  and  then  in  my  soul 
I  offered  myself  and  you  and  the  children  up  to  this  great 
work.  Those  people  shall  be  our  people,  and  they  shall  have 
our  God  for  their  God.' " 

Mrs.  Booth  herself  wrote : — 

"  I  remember  the  emotion  that  this  produced  in  my  soul.  I 
sat  gazing  into  the  fire,  and  the  Devil  whispered  to  me,  '  This 
means  another  departure,  another  start  in  life ! '  The  ques- 
tion of  our  support  constituted  a  serious  difficulty.  Hitherto 
we  had  been  able  to  meet  our  expenses  out  of  the  collections 
which  we  had  made  from  our  more  respectable  audiences.  But 
it  was  impossible  to  suppose  that  we  could  do  so  among  the 
poverty-stricken  East-Enders — we  were  afraid  even  to  ask  for 
a  collection  in  such  a  locality. 

"Nevertheless,  I  did  not  answer  discouragingly.  After  a 
momentary  pause  for  thought  and  prayer,  I  replied,  *Well,  if 
you  feel  you  ought  to  stay,  stay.  We  have  trusted  the  Lord 
once  for  our  support,  and  we  can  trust  Him  again  T'* 

"  That  night,"  says  The  General,  "  The  Salvation  Army 
was  born." 

Before  long  God  moved  the  heart  of  one  of  the  most 
benevolent  men  in  England,  Mr.  Samuel  Morley,  to  prom- 
ise them  his  influence  and  support  without  any  condition 
but  the  continuance  of  the  work  thus  begun.  But  no 
amount  of  monetary  help  could  have  placed  The  General 
in  a  position  to  establish  anything  like  the  permanent  work 
he  desired.     He  writes: — 


EAST  LONDON  BEGINNING  67 

"  I  had  hardly  got  successfully  started  on  this  new  path  be- 
fore my  old  experience  of  difficulty  met  me  once  more.  On 
the  third  Sunday  morning,  I  think  it  was,  we  found  the  old 
tent  which  formed  our  cathedral,  blown  down,  and  so  damaged 
by  the  fall,  as  well  as  sd  rotten,  that  it  could  not  be  put  up 
again.  Another  tent  was  impossible,  as  we  had  no  money  to 
buy  one;  so,  as  no  suitable  building  could  be  obtained,  there 
was  nothing  for  it  but  for  us  to  do  our  best  out  of  doors. 

"  After  a  time  we  secured  an  old  dancing-room  for  Sunday 
Meetings.  But,  there  being  no  seats  in  it,  our  Converts  had 
to  come  at  4  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning  to  bring  the  benches 
in,  and  work  till  midnight,  or  later  still,  when  the  day's  Meet- 
ings were  over,  to  move  them  out  again.  For  our  week-night 
Meetings  we  had  hired  an  old  shed,  formerly  used  to  store 
rags  in,  and  there  we  fought  for  months." 


What  a  testimony  to  the  character  of  the  work  already 
accomplished,  and  the  readiness  of  the  little  force  already 
raised  to  toil  like  pioneer  soldiers  for  the  love  of  Christ! 

Most  of  the  Converts  of  those  days  "  had  been  forgiven 
much."  The  following  letter  from  one  of  them  may  give 
some  idea  both  of  the  nature  of  the  work  done,  and  the 
surrounding  circumstances : — 

"Dear  Sir, — I  have  reason  to  bless  the  hour  that  God  put 
the  thought  into  your  head  to  open  the  Mission  at  the  East- 
End  of  London,  for  it  has  been  the  means  of  making  me  and 
my  family  happy  in  the  love  of  Christ;  it  has  turned  me  from 
a  drunkard,  blasphemer,  and  liar,  to  a  true  believing  Christian. 
At  the  age  of  thirteen,  I  went  as  a  waiter-boy  in  a  public-house, 
where  I  remained  until  I  was  sixteen.  Here  I  learned  to  love 
the  flavour  of  drink,  and  I  never  lost  it  until  I  was  converted 
to  God,  through  the  blessed  words  spoken  in  the  open  air. 
When  I  look  back,  and  think  how  I  have  beaten  my  poor  wife 
— it  was  through  the  drink — it  makes  me  ashamed  of  myself. 
It  was  the  word  and  the  blow,  but  sometimes  the  blow  first. 
After  I  got  sober,  sometimes  it  would  make  me  ashamed  to 
look  at  her  black  eyes ;  but  I  do  thank  God  there  is  no  fear  of 
black  eyes  now;  for  we  are  very  happy  together. 

"I  am  a  stoker  and  engine-driver,  and  I  wonder  I  have 
never  had  an  explosion,  for  I  have  been  drunk  for  a  week  at 


58  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

a  time.  On  one  occasion,  I  had  been  drunk  overnight,  and 
was  not  very  sober  in  the  morning.  I  v^^ent  to  work  at  half- 
past  five,  instead  of  five,  and,  without  looking  to  see  if  there 
was  any  water  in  the  boiler,  I  began  stoking  the  fire  up.  The 
fright  sobered  me.  It  cost  above  £ioo  before  it  was  fit  for 
work  again.  But  that  did  not  alter  me,  only  for  the  worse. 
I  broke  up  my  home.  I  got  worse,  after  that,  and  cared  for 
nothing.  Half  my  wages  went  in  drink,  my  wife  was  afraid 
to  speak  to  me,  and  the  poor  children  would  get  anywhere  out 
of  my  way.  Afterwards  I  was  discharged;  but  although  I 
soon  got  another  job,  I  could  not  leave  off  the  drink.  I  was 
reckoned  a  regular  drunkard.  I  lost  place  after  place,  and  was 
out  of  work  several  weeks  at  a  time;  for  they  did  not  care  to 
employ  a  drunkard.  Still,  I  would  have  beer  somehow,  I  did 
not  care  how.  I  have  given  one  and  sixpence  for  the  loan 
of  a  shilling,  and  though  there  was  not  a  bit  of  bread  at  home, 
the  shilling  went  in  beer. 

"  I  have  often  had  the  police  called  in  for  ill-using  my  wife. 
On  one  occasion  she  ran  down  to  her  mother's,  with  her  face 
bleeding ;  but  I  went  to  bed.  When  I  woke,  I  saw  she  was  not 
there,  so  I  went  out  and  got  drunk.  I  came  home  and  got  a 
large  carving-knife,  put  it  up  my  sleeve,  and  went  down  to 
her  mother's,  with  the  intention  of  killing  her;  but  they  saw 
the  knife.  The  police  were  called  in,  and  I  was  taken  to 
Spitalfields  Station.  But  no  one  coming  to  press  the  charge, 
I  got  off. 

"Eight  years  ago  God  thought  fit  to  lay  me  on  a  bed  of 
sickness  for  thirteen  weeks,  and  I  was  given  up  by  all  the 
doctors.  When  I  got  better,  people  thought  I  would  alter  my 
life,  and  become  a  steady  man;  but  no,  I  was  as  bad  as  ever. 
While  I  was  at  work,  another  time,  drunk,  I  lost  one  of  my 
eyes  by  an  accident;  but  even  that  did  not  make  me  a  sober 
man,  nor  make  me  leave  off  swearing  and  cursing.  I  was 
generally  drunk  two  or  three  times  on  Sundays.  The  Sunday 
that  I  was  convinced  I  was  a  sinner  I  had  been  drunk  twice. 

"I  did  not  think  there  was  so  much  happiness  for  me;  but 
I  do  thank  God  for  what  He  has  done  for  me.  He  has  changed 
my  heart.  He  has  filled  me  full  of  the  love  of  Christ;  and  my 
greatest  desire  is  to  tell  sinners  what  a  dear  Saviour  I  have 
found." 

Best  of  all  was  the  demonstration  that,  out  of  such  ma- 
terial, God  was  able  and  ready  to  raise  up  a  fighting  force. 


EAST  LONDON  BEGINNING  69 

One  great  difficulty  of  those  days  was  the  obtaining  of 
suitable  buildings.  For  a  time  a  theatre  was  hired  for  Sun- 
day Meetings  (the  law  in  England  then  not  allowing  thea- 
tres to  give  performances  on  Sundays). 

The  great  buildings  to  which  the  people  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  go  for  amusement  have  always  provea  admirably 
suited  for  the  gathering  of  congregations  of  that  sort.  A 
gentleman  who  had  had  long  experience  in  mission  work 
thus  describes  what  he  saw  when  he  went  to  spend  a  "  Sun- 
day afternoon  with  William  Booth  " : — 

"On  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  January  31st,  I  was  able  to 
see  some  of  the  results  of  William  Booth's  work  in  the  East 
of  London,  by  attending  his  Experience  Meeting,  held  in  the 
East  London  Theatre.  About  2  o'clock  some  of  his  helpers 
and  Converts  went  out  from  the  Mission  Hall,  where  they  had 
been  praying  together,  and  held  an  Open-Air  Meeting  in  front 
of  a  large  brewery  opposite  the  Hall.  The  ground  was  damp 
and  the  wind  high,  but  they  secured  an  audience,  and  then 
sang  hymns  along  the  road,  till  they  came  to  the  theatre, 
taking  in  any  who  chose  to  follow  them.  Probably  about  five 
hundred  were  present,  though  many  came  in  late. 

"  The  Meeting  commenced  at  three,  and  lasted  one  hour  and 
a  half.  During  this  period  fifty-three  persons  gave  their  ex- 
perience, parts  of  eight  hymns  were  sung,  and  prayer  was 
offered  by  four  persons.  After  singing  Philip  Philips'  beau- 
tiful hymn,  *  I  will  sing  for  Jesus,*  prayer  was  offered  up  by 
Mr.  Booth  and  two  others. 

"A  young  man  rose  and  told  of  his  conversion  a  year  ago, 
thanking  God  that  he  had  been  kept  through  the  year. 

"A  negro,  of  the  name  of  Burton,  interested  the  Meeting 
much  by  telling  of  his  first  Open-Air  Service,  which  he  had 
held  during  the  past  week  in  Ratcliff  Highway,  one  of  the 
worst  places  in  London.  He  said,  when  the  people  saw  him 
kneel  in  the  gutter,  engaged  in  prayer  for  them,  they  thought 
he  was  mad.    The  verse — 

Christ  now  sits  on  Zion's  hill, 
He    receives    poor   sinners    still, 

was  then  sung. 

"A  young  man  under  the  right-hand  gallery,  having  briefly 


60  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

spoken,  one  of  Mr.  Booth's  helpers,  a  Yorkshireman,  with  a 
strong  voice  and  hearty  manner,  told  of  the  Open-Air  Meet- 
ings, the  opposition  they  encountered,  and  his  determination 
to  go  on,  in  spite  of  all  opposition  from  men  and  Devils. 

"A  middle-aged  man  on  the  right,  a  sailor,  told  how  he 
was  brought  to  Christ  during  his  passage  home  from  Colombo. 
One  of  the  Dublin  tracts,  entitled,  'John's  Difficulty,'  was  the 
means  of  his  conversion. 

"A  young  man  to  the  right,  having  told  how,  as  a  back- 
slider, he  had  recently  been  restored,  a  cabman  said  he  used 
to  be  in  the  public-houses  constantly;  but  he  thanked  God  he 
ever  heard  William  Booth,  for  it  led  to  his  conversion. 

"  Three  young  men  on  the  right  then  spoke.  The  first,  who 
comes  five  miles  to  these  Meetings,  told  how  he  was  lost 
through  the  drink,  and  restored  by  the  Gospel ;  the  second  said 
he  was  unspeakably  happy;  the  third  said  he  would  go  to  the 
stake  for  Christ. 

"  A  middle-aged  man  in  the  centre  spoke  of  his  many  trials. 
His  sight  was  failing  him,  but  the  light  of  Christ  shone  bril- 
liantly in  his  soul.  ~~ 

"The  chorus- 
Let  us  walk  in  the  light, 

was  then  sung. 

"A  young  man  described  his  feelings  as  he  had  recently 
passed  the  place  where  he  was  born;  and  a  sister  spoke  of  her 
husband's  conversion,  and  how  they  were  both  now  rejoicing 
in  God. 

"  After  a  young  man  on  the  left  had  told  how  his  soul  had 
recently  revived,  another  on  the  right  testified  to  the  Lord 
having  pardoned  his  sins  in  the  theatre  on  the  previous  Sunday. 

"Two  sailors  followed.  The  first  spoke  of  his  conversion 
through  reading  a  tract  while  on  his  way  to  the  Indies  four 
months  ago.  The  other  said  he  was  going  to  sea  next  week, 
and  was  going  to  take  some  Bibles,  hymns,  and  tracts  with 
him,  to  see  what  could  be  done  for  Christ  on  board. 

"The  verse — 

I  believe  I  shall  be  there, 

And    walk    with   Him    in   white, 

was  then  sung. 

"A  young  man  of  the  name  of  John,  sometimes  called 
'Young  Hallelujah,'  told  of  his  trials  while  selling  fish  in  the 


EAST  LONDON  BEGINNING  61 

streets;  but  he  comforted  himself  by  saying,  *'Tis  better  on 
before/  He  had  been  drawn  out  in  prayer  at  midnight  on  the 
previous  night,  and  had  dreamed  all  night  that  he  was  in  a 
Prayer  Meeting.  He  was  followed  by  a  converted  thief,  who 
told  how  he  was  *  picked  up,*  and  of  his  persecutions  daily 
while  working  with  twenty  unconverted  men. 

"  A  man  in  the  centre,  who  had  been  a  great  drunkard,  said, 
'What  a  miserable  wretch  I  was  till  the  Lord  met  with  me! 
I  used  to  think  I  could  not  do  without  my  pint  a  day,  but  the 
Lord  pulled  me  right  bang  out  of  a  public-house  into  a  place 
of  worship/ 

"  He  was  followed  by  a  young  man  who  was  converted  at 
one  of  the  Breakfast  Meetings  last  year,  and  who  said  he  was 
exceedingly  happy.  Another  young  man  on  the  left  said  his 
desire  was  to  speak  more  and  work  more  for  Jesus. 

"  Two  sisters  then  spoke.  The  first  uttered  a  brief,  inaudible 
sentence,  and  the  second  told  of  being  so  happy  every  day, 
and  wanting  to  be  more  faithful. 

"  The  verse — 

Shall  we  meet  beyond  the  River, 
Where  the  surges  cease  to  roll? 

was  then  sung. 

"  A  young  woman  said :  '  I  well  remember  the  night  I  first 
heard  Mr.  Booth  preach  here.  I  had  a  heavy  load  of  sin  upon 
my  shoulders.  But  I  was  invited  to  come  on  the  stage.  I  did 
so,  and  was  pointed  to  Jesus,  and  I  obtained  peace.* 

"Another  told  of  his  conversion  by  a  tract,  four  years  ago, 
on  his  passage  to  Sydney.  *  To  my  sorrow,'  he  said,  *  I  became 
a  backslider.  But  I  thank  God  He  ever  brought  me  here. 
That  blessed  man,  Mr.  Booth,  preached,  and  I  gave  my  heart 
to  God  afresh.  I  now  take  tracts  to  sea  regularly.  I  have 
only  eighteen  shillings  a  week,  but  I  save  my  tobacco  and  beer 
money  to  buy  tracts.' 

"  The  verse — 

I  never  shall  forget  the  day 
When  Jesus  took  my  sins  away, 

was  then  sung. 

"A  stout  man,  a  navvy,  who  said  he  had  been  one  of  the 
biggest  drunkards  in  London,  having  briefly  spoken,  was  fol- 
lowed by  one  known  as  *  Jemmy  the  butcher,*  who  keeps  a  stall 
in  the  Whitechapel  Road.     Some  one  had  cruelly  robbed  him, 


62  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

but  he  found  consolation  by  attending  the  Mission  Hall  Prayer 
Meeting. 

"Two  young  lads,  recently  converted,  having  given  their 
experience,  a  dock  labourer,  converted  seventeen  months  ago, 
asked  the  prayers  of  the  Meeting  for  his  wife,  yet  unconverted. 
Some  of  his  comrades  during  the  last  week  said,  *  What  a 
difference  there  is  in  you  now  to  what  there  used  to  be ! ' 

"Three  young  women  followed.  The  first  spoke  but  a  sen- 
tence or  two.  The  desire  of  the  second  was  to  live  more  to 
Christ.  The  third  had  a  singularly  clear  voice,  and  gave  her 
experience  very  intelligently.  It  was  a  year  and  a  half  since 
she  gave  her  heart  to  the  Saviour;  but  her  husband  does  not 
yet  see  with  her.  Her  desire  was  to  possess  holiness  of  heart, 
and  to  know  more  of  the  language  of  Canaan. 

"  The  experience  of  an  old  man,  who  next  spoke,  was  strik- 
ing. Mr.  Booth  had  announced  his  intention,  some  time  back, 
of  preaching  a  sermon  on  *  The  Derby,'  at  the  time  of  the 
race  that  goes  by  that  name.  This  man  was  attracted  by 
curiosity,  and  when  listening  compared  himself  to  a  broken- 
down  horse.     This  sermon  was  the  means  of  his  conversion. 

"The  verse  then  sung  was: — 

Can  you  tell  nte  what  ship  is  going  to  sail? 
Oh,  the  old  ship  of  Zion,  Hallelujah! 

"Two  sisters  then  spoke.  The  first  had  been  very  mucK 
cast  down  for  seven  or  eight  weeks;  but  she  comforted  herself 
by  saying,  *  'Tis  better  on  before/  The  second  said  it  was 
two  years  since  she  found  peace,  and  she  was  very  happy. 

"A  young  man  told  how  his  sins  were  taken  away.  He 
worked  in  the  city,  and  some  one  took  him  to  hear  the  Rev. 
E.  P.  Hammond.  He  did  not  find  peace  then,  but  afterwards, 
as  a  young  man  was  talking  to  him  in  the  street,  he  was  able 
to  see  the  way  of  Salvation,  and  rejoice  in  it.  He  used  to 
fall  asleep  generally  under  the  preaching.  *  But  here,'  he  said, 
'under  Mr.  Booth,  I  can't  sleep.' 

"A  little  boy,  one  of  Mr.  Booth's  sons  (the  present  Gen- 
eral), gave  a  simple  and  good  testimony.  He  was  followed 
by  a  young  man,  and  then  an  interesting  blind  girl,  whom  I 
had  noticed  singing  heartily  in  the  street,  told  of  her  conversion. 

"A  girl  told  how  she  found  peace  seventeen  months  ago; 
and  then  Mr.  Booth  offered  a  few  concluding  observations  and 
prayed.     The  Meeting  closed  by  singing: — 


EAST  LONDON  BEGINNING  63 

I  will  not  be  discouraged, 
For  Jesus  is  my  Friend. 

"  Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  this  most  interesting  Meeting, 
held  Sunday  after  Sunday.  Mr.  Booth  led  the  singing  by- 
commencing  the  hymns  without  even  giving  them  out.  But  the 
moment  he  began,  the  bulk  of  the  people  joined  heartily  in 
them.  Only  one  or  two  verses  of  each  hymn  were  sung  as  a 
rule.  Most  of  them  are  found  in  his  own  admirably  compiled 
iSong-Book. 

"  I  could  not  but  wonder  at  the  change  which  had  come  over 
the  people.  The  majority  of  those  present,  probably  nearly 
five  hundred,  owed  their  conversion  to  the  preaching  of  Mr. 
Booth  and  his  helpers.  How  would  they  have  been  spending 
Sunday  afternoon,  if  this  blessed  agency  had  not  been  set  on 
foot? 

"  In  the  evening  I  preached  in  the  Oriental  Music  Hall, 
High  Street,  Poplar,  where  five  or  six  hundred  persons  were 
assembled.  This  is  one  of  the  more  recent  branches  of  Mr. 
Booth's  work,  and  appears  to  be  in  a  very  prosperous  condition. 
I  found  two  groups  of  the  helpers  singing  and  preaching  in 
the  streets,  who  were  only  driven  in  by  the  rain  just  before 
the  Meeting  commenced  inside.  This  is  how  the  people  are 
laid  hold  of. 

"  Shall  this  good  work  be  hindered  for  the  want  of  a  few 
hundred  pounds?" 

The  supply  of  "  pounds,"  alas !  though  called  for  in  such 
religious  periodicals  as  at  that  time  were  willing  to  report 
the  work,  did  not  come,  and  The  General  says:  "After 
six  years'  hard  work,  we  had  nothing  better  for  our  Sun- 
day Night  Meetings  than  a  small  covered  alley  attached  to 
a  drinking-saloon,  together  with  some  old  discarded  chap- 
els, and  a  tumble-down  penny  theatre  for  week-nights." 

At  last  a  drinking-saloon,  "  The  Eastern  Star,"  having 
been  burnt  out,  was  acquired,  and  rebuilt  and  fitted  as  a 
centre  for  the  Work,  to  be  succeeded  ere  long  by  the  large 
covered  People's  Market  in  Whitechapel  Road,  which  was 
for  ten  years  to  be  The  Army's  Headquarters,  and  which 
is  now  the  Headquarters  of  its  English  Men's  Social  Work. 

Throughout  all  these  years  of  struggle,  however,  the 


64^  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

Converts  were  being  drilled  and  fitted  for  the  further  ex- 
tension of  the  Work. 

The  idea  of  forming  them  into  a  really  permanent  Or- 
ganisation only  came  to  their  Leader  gradually.  He 
says  :— 

"My  first  thought  was  to  constitute  an  evangelistic  agency, 
the  Converts  going  to  the  Churches.  But  to  this  there  were 
three  main  obstacles : — 

i.  They  would  not  go  where  they  were  sent, 
ii.  They  were  not  wanted  when  they  did  go. 
iii.  I  soon  found  that  I  wanted  them  myself." 

And  the  more  time  he  spent  amongst  them  the  more  the 
sense  of  responsibility  with  regard  to  them  grew  upon 
him.  He  had  discovered  what  mines  of  unimagined  power 
for  good  were  to  be  found  amidst  the  very  classes  who 
seemed  entirely  severed  from  religious  life.  There  they 
were,  and  if  only  proper  machinery  could  be  provided  and 
kept  going  they  could  be  raised  from  their  present  useless, 
if  not  pernicious,  life  to  that  career  of  usefulness  to  others 
like  themselves  for  which  they  were  so  well  qualified. 
They  could  thus  become  a  treasure  of  priceless  value  to 
their  country  and  to  the  world. 

On  the  other  hand,  neglected,  or  left  with  no  other  sort 
of  worship  than  as  yet  existed  to  appeal  to  them,  they  must 
needs  become  worse  and  worse,  more  and  more  hostile  to 
religion  of  any  kind,  more  and  more  unlikely  ever  to  take 
an  interest  in  anything  eternal. 

The  General  could  not,  therefore,  but  feel  more  and 
more  satisfied  that  he  had  begun  a  work  that  ought  to  be 
permanently  maintained  and  enlarged,  as  opportunity  might 
arise,  until  it  could  cope  with  this  state  of  things  wherever 
it  was  to  be  found. 

And  now  that  he  had  at  length  a  centre  to  which  he 
could  invite  all  his  helpers  from  time  to  time,  there  was  no 
hindrance  to  the  carrying  out  of  such  a  purpose. 

With  the  establishment  of  a  Headquarters  that  cost 
£3,500,  in  one  of  the  main  thoroughfares  of  Eastern  Lon- 
don, we  may  look  upon  The  General  as  having  at  last  got 
a  footing  in  the  world. 


Chapter  VIII 

ARMY-MAKING 

What  a  place  for  a  Christian  Mission  centre  was  White- 
chapel  Road! 

'*  Just  look  here,"  said  The  General  to  his  eldest  son, 
then  a  boy  of  thirteen,  as  he  led  him  late  one  Sunday  even- 
ing through  the  great  swing-doors  of  a  public-house  into 
the  crowded  bar.  "  These  are  the  people  I  want  you  to 
live  and  labour  for." 

The  mere  appearance  of  many  a  thousand  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, whether  inside  or  outside  such  houses,  was 
enough  to  give  some  idea  of  the  misery  of  their  Hves.  The 
language  and  the  laughter  with  which  those  ragged,  dirty, 
unkempt  men  and  women  accompanied  their  drinking  were 
such  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that  they  were  wallowing  in  the 
mire.  At  that  time,  and,  indeed,  until  the  Children  Act  of 
1909  came  into  force,  it  was  the  custom  of  thousands  of 
mothers  to  take  their  babies  and  little  children  into  the 
public-houses  with  them,  so  that  the  scenes  of  family  misery 
and  ruin  were  complete. 

In  many  of  the  side  streets  and  back  lanes,  where  there 
was  little  wheel  traffic,  groups  of  men  and  women  might 
have  been  seen  bargaining  for  the  most  dilapidated  and 
greasy  articles  of  old  clothing  that  could  still  be  worn, 
whilst  lads  and  even  children  gambled  with  half-pence,  or 
even  with  marbles,  as  if  they  could  not  early  enough  learn 
how  fully  to  follow  the  evil  courses  of  their  elders.  There 
were,  and  are  still,  streets  within  ten  minutes'  walk  of  the 
Whitechapel  Road  where  dogs  and  birds  were  traded  in, 
or  betted  on,  competitions  in  running  and  singing  being 
often  indispensable  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  buyers  and 
sellers. 

By  the  side  of  the  road  along  which  there  was,  and  is, 

6s 


60  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

a  continuous  stream  of  waggon  and  omnibus,  as  well  as 
foot  traffic,  was  a  broad  strip  of  unpaved  ground,  part  of 
it  opposite  that  Sidney  Street  which  a  few  years  ago  be- 
came world-renowned  as  the  scene  of  the  battle  of  the  Lon- 
don Police  with  armed  burglars.  This  was  called  the  Mile 
End  Waste,  and  was  utilised  for  all  the  ordinary  purposes 
of  a  fair  ground.  The  merry-go-rounds,  and  shows  of 
every  description,  which  competed  with  the  unfailing  Punch 
and  Judy,  and  wooden  swings,  kept  up  a  continuous  din, 
especially  on  Saturday  nights  and  Sundays. 

Amidst  all  this  the  vendors  of  the  vilest  songs  and  books, 
and  of  the  most  astounding  medicines,  raised  their  voices 
so  as  to  attract  their  own  little  rings  of  interested  listeners. 
There,  too,  men  spoke  upon  almost  every  imaginable  evil 
theme,  denouncing  both  God  and  Government  in  words 
which  one  would  have  thought  no  decent  workman  would 
care  to  hear.  But  all  who  have  seen  a  fair  will  have  some 
idea  of  the  scene,  if  they  can  only  imagine  all  the  deepest 
horrors  of  appearance  and  demeanour  that  drunkenness  and 
poverty,  illness  and  rags,  can  crowd  together  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  of  space. 

Once  you  can  place  all  that  fairly  before  your  imagina- 
tion you  can  form  some  conception  of  the  mind  that  could 
look  upon  it  all  and  hunger  to  find  just  there  a  battlefield 
for  life,  as  well  as  of  the  faith  that  could  reckon  upon  the 
fcrictory  of  the  Gospel  in  such  a  place.  We  have  all  read 
accounts  of  missionaries  approaching  some  far-away  is- 
land shore  and  seeing  the  heathen  dance  round  some  canni- 
bal feast.  But  such  feasts  could  not  have  been  very 
frequent,  amidst  such  limited  populations,  whereas  the  ever- 
changing  millions  of  London  have  furnished  all  these  years 
tragedies  daily  and  nightly  numerous  enough  to  crowd  our 
memories  with  scenes  no  less  appalling  to  the  moral  sense 
than  anything  witnessed  on  those  distant  pagan  shores. 
To  those  who  take  time  to  think  it  out,  the  marvel  of  both 
the  eagerness  and  the  reluctance  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Booth 
to  plunge  into  this  human  Niagara  will  appear  ever  greater. 
As  we  look  nowadays  at  the  world-wide  result  of  their 
resolve  so  to  do,  despite  all  their  consciousness  of  ignorance 


ARMY-MAKING  67 

and  unfitness  for  the  task,  we  cannot  but  see  in  the  whole 
matter  the  hand  of  God  Himself,  fulfilling  His  great  prom- 
ise :  "  Even  the  captives  of  the  mighty  shall  be  taken  away, 
the  prey  of  the  terrible  shall  be  delivered,  for  I  will  contend 
with  them  that  contend  with  thee,  and  I  will  save  thy  chil- 
dren. And  all  flesh  shall  know  that  I  the  Lord  am  thy 
Saviour,  and  thy  Redeemer,  the  Mighty  One  of  Jacob." 

As  long  as  the  God  of  that  solitary,  selfish  tramp  re- 
mains determined  to  redeem  and  save  even  the  most  de- 
praved and  abandoned  of  mankind,  its  Whitechapels  and 
Spitalfields,  and  other  moral  jungles,  can  be  turned  into 
gardens,  blooming  with  every  flower  of  moral  innocence  and 
beauty — if  only  gardeners,  capable  of  enough  trust  in  God 
and  toil  for  man,  can  be  found. 

The  Meetings  held  at  noon  daily  in  front  of  the  new 
Headquarters  set  an  example  of  patient,  persevering  com- 
bat which  was  followed  in  the  Meetings,  outdoors  or  in, 
held  by  what  was  then  known  as  "  The  Christian  Mission." 
The  first  name  used  by  **  The  General  Superintendent,"  as 
our  Founder  was  then  called,  was  "  The  East  London  Chris- 
tian Revival  Society."  This  was  changed  to  "  The  East 
London  Christian  Mission,"  and  the  "  East  London  "  being 
dropped,  when  the  work  extended  outside  London,  "  The 
Christian  Mission  "  remained,  much  as  the  name  was  al- 
ways disliked,  from  its  appearance  of  implying  a  slight  on 
all  other  missions. 

The  steadily  increasing  success  of  the  Whitechapel  work 
was  such  that  when  I  first  saw  it,  after  it  had  only  had 
that  centre  for  two  years,  the  Hall,  seating  more  than 
1,200  persons,  would  be  crowded  on  Sundays,  and,  al- 
though the  people  had  been  got  together  from  streets  full 
of  drunkenness  and  hostility,  the  audiences  would  be  kept 
under  perfect  control,  once  the  outer  gates  were  closed,  and 
would  listen  with  the  intensest  interest  to  all  that  was  said 
and  sung. 

On  Sunday  nights  I  have  known  ten  different  bands  of 
speakers  take  their  stand  at  various  points  along  the  White- 
chapel Road,  and  when  they  all  marched  to  the  Hall,  they 
could  usually  make  their  songs  heard  above  all  the  din  of 


68  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

traffic,  and  in  spite  of  any  attempts  at  interruption  made 
by  the  opposition. 

The  enemy  constantly  displayed  his  hostility  at  the  Meet- 
ings held  in  the  street,  whether  in  Whitechapel  or  any  of 
the  other  poor  parishes  to  which  the  work  had  spread,  and 
was  not  often  content  with  mere  cries  of  derision  either. 
Dirt  and  garbage  would  be  thrown  at  us,  blows  and  kicks 
would  come,  especially  on  dark  evenings,  and  the  sight  of 
a  policeman  approaching,  so  far  from  being  a  comfort, 
w^as  a  still  worse  trial,  as  he  would  very  rarely  show  any 
inclination  to  protect  us,  but  more  generally  a  wish  to  make 
us  "  move  on  "  just  when  we  had  got  a  good  crowd  to- 
gether, on  the  plea  that  we  were  either  *'  obstructing  the 
thoroughfare  '*  or  "  creating  a  disturbance." 

But  what  a  blessed  training  for  War  it  all  was!  The 
Converts  learnt  not  merely  to  raise  their  voices  for  God, 
and  to  persist  in  their  efforts,  in  spite  of  every  possible 
discouragement,  but  to  bridle  their  tongues  when  abused, 
to  "  endure  hardness,"  and  manifest  a  prayerful,  loving 
spirit  towards  those  who  despitefully  used  them.  The  very 
fighting  made  bold  and  happy  Soldiers  out  of  many  of  the 
tenderest  and  most  timid  Converts.  ' 

And  yet  I  am  not  sure  whether  a  still  more  important 
part  of  The  Army-making  was  not  accomplished  in  the 
Prayer  Meetings,  and  Holiness  Meetings,  which  came  to  be 
more  and  more  popular,  until  under  the  name  of  "  Days 
with  God "  and  "  Nights  of  Prayer "  they  attracted,  in 
many  of  the  great  cities  of  England,  crowds,  even  of  those 
who  did  not  belong  to  us,  but  who  wished  to  find  out  the 
secret  of  our  strength,  for  it  was  by  the  light  and  help  got 
in  such  Meetings  that  Converts  became  "  steadfast,  un- 
movable,  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,"  so 
that  instead  of  merely  carrying  on  a  "  Mission  "  for  so 
many  weeks,  months,  or  years,  many  of  them  became  re- 
liable warriors  for  life. 

How  few  of  The  General's  critics,  who  sneered  at  his 
Meetings  as  though  they  were  mere  scenes  of  "  passing 
excitement "  had  any  idea  of  the  profound  teaching  he 
gave  his  people !     The  then  editor  of  "  The  Christian," 


ARMY-MAKING  69 

who  took  the  trouble  to  visit  them,  as  well  as  to  converse 
with  The  General  at  length,  with  remarkable  prescience 
wrote,  as  early  as  1871,  in  his  preface  to  The  General's  first 
important  publication,  "  How  to  Reach  the  Masses  with 
the  Gospel  " : — 

"  The  following  pages  tell  a  fragment  of  the  story  of  as 
wonderful  a  work,  of  its  kind,  as  this  generation  has  seen.  No 
doubt  it  is  open  to  the  same  kind  of  criticism  as  the  sculptor's 
chisel  might  award  to  the  excavator's  pick;  but  I  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  believe  that  for  every  essential  Christian  virtue — faith, 
zeal,  self-denial,  love,  prayer,  and  the  like — numbers  of  the 
Converts  of  this  Mission  will  bear  not  unfavourable  comparison 
with  the  choicest  members  of  the  most  cultivated  Churches. 

"There  is  not  in  this  kingdom  an  agency  which  more  de- 
mands the  hearty  and  liberal  support  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 
In  the  East  of  London  are  crowded  and  condensed  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  poorer  labouring  population  of  London.  The 
ruined,  the  unfortunate,  the  depraved,  the  feeble  ones,  outrun 
in  the  race  of  life,  gravitate  thither  and  jostle  one  another  in 
the  daily  struggle  for  bread;  thousands  remain  on  the  edge  of 
starvation  from  day  to  day,  and  thq  bulk  of  these  teeming 
multitudes  are  as  careless  of  eternity  as  the  heathen,  and  far 
more  uncared  for  by  the  great  majority  of  the  professed  peo- 
ple of  God.  Mr.  Booth's  operations  are  unparalleled  in  ex- 
tent, unsectarian  in  character,  a  standing  rebuke  to  the  apathy 
of  Christians,  and  a  witness  of  the  willingness  of  God  to  show 
His  work  unto  His  servants  and  to  establish  the  work  of  their 
hands  upon  them." 

From  the  beginning,  The  General  had  taught  his  people 
to  come  together  for  an  hour's  prayer  early  each  Sunday 
morning,  and  to  delight  in  prayer  at  all  times,  looking  ever 
to  God  to  deliver  them  personally  from  "  all  evil  "  and  to 
"  make  and  keep  them  pure  within."  These  phrases  were 
familiar  to  all  English  people;  but  that  their  real  meaning 
might  not  only  be  taken  in  but  kept  ever  before  his  people 
The  General  had  established  two  weekly  Holiness  Meet- 
ings in  the  Mission  Halls,  one  on  Sunday  morning  and 
the  other  on  Friday  evening.  These  practices,  kept  up 
wherever  The  Army  has  gone  all  these  forty-five  years, 


70  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

have  resulted  in  the  cultivation  of  ideals  far  above  those 
usual  even  in  the  most  refined  Christian  circles. 

Nothing  has  more  astonished  me,  amongst  all  the  tor- 
rents of  eulogy  passed  upon  The  General  and  his  Army 
since  his  death,  than  the  almost  invariable  silence  amongst 
Christian  as  well  as  secular  papers  about  these  Holiness 
Meetings,  and  that  teaching  of  Holiness  which  were  the 
root  and  secret  of  all  the  success  of  The  Army. 

Any  capable  schoolma;Ster  might  compile  volumes  of 
rules;  but  how  to  get  them  obeyed  is  the  question.  How 
could  it  be  possible  to  settle  every  question  of  who  shall  be 
the  greatest  in  an  Army  formed  largely  of  the  most  inde- 
pendent and  unruly  elements,  if  there  were  no  superhuman 
power  that  could  destroy  the  foundations  of  envy  and  ill- 
feeling,  and  fill  hearts,  once  wide  apart,  with  the  humble 
love  that  can  prefer  others'  honour  before  one's  own? 

The  organisation  of  The  Army  has  been,  and  is,  in  all 
countries  a  steady,  careful  development.  But  it  has  only 
been  made  possible  by  the  continual  maintenance  of  a  com- 
plete confidence  in  God  for  the  needed  supplies  of  wisdom 
and  grace  to  enable  each  to  submit  to  others  for  Christ's 
sake,  to  bear  and  forbear  for  the  good  of  the  whole  Army, 
seeking  ever  to  learn  to  do  better,  and  yet  being  willing  to 
be  forgotten,  and  even  to  be  undervalued,  misunderstood, 
and  ill-treated  by  a  hasty  or  unjust  superior,  for  Christ's 
sake. 

General  Booth,  himself,  did  not  always  appear  the  most 
patient  and  kindly  of  leaders.  He  w^ould  have  been  the 
first  to  admit  how  he  wounded  tender  hearts,  and,  perhaps, 
even  repulsed  some  who  could  have  been  of  greater  help- 
fulness to  him  had  he  been  able  to  endure  more  patiently 
their  slowness  and  timidity. 

But,  conscious  as  he  was  of  his  own  defects,  he  especially 
rejoiced  when  his  son  and  successor  began  to  shine  as  a 
Holiness  teacher,  whose  weekly  Meetings  at  Whitechapel 
became  a  power  that  was  felt  all  over  the  world. 

The  teaching  and  enjoyment  of  this  great  blessing,  with 
all  the  deliverance  from  self-seeking  and  pride  which  it 
brings,  has  made  it  possible  to  go  on  imposing  more  and 


AEMY-MAKING  71 

more  of  regulation  and  discipline  on  all  sorts  of  men  and 
women  without  either  souring  their  spirit  or  transforming 
The  Army's  system  into  mere  machinery.  The  Army  will 
go  on  to  carry  out  its  Founder's  purpose  better  and  better 
the  more  it  learns  how  to  sit  constantly  at  the  feet  of  the 
one  great  Master. 


Chapter  IX 

ARMY  LEADING 

We  have  seen  Mr.  Booth  beginning  on  the  spot,  now 
marked  with  a  stone,  near  the  site  of  "  The  Vine  "  pubHc- 
house  (since  happily  pulled  down,  the  site  being  turned  into 
a  public  garden)  on  July  5,  1865,  scrambling  through  the 
first  six  years'  difficulties  until  he  marched  the  beginnings 
of  an  Army  of  saved  drunkards,  infidels,  and  sinners  into 
a  People's  Market,  transformed  into  a  public  Hall  and 
Headquarters. 

He  called  all  that  "  The  Christian  Mission,"  with  only 
a  slowly  dawning  consciousness  that  it  was  an  Army,  for 
six  years  more. 

But  he  was  leading  it  on,  in  humble  dependence  upon 
God,  with  increasing  speed  and  force.  He  was  really  hin- 
dered by  many  things,  amongst  them  his  own  ministerial 
habits  of  thought  and  plan.  That  nothing  lasting  could  be 
achieved  without  system  and  organisation  he  had  always 
seen.  But  he  had  never  yet  known  a  formation  equal  to 
that  of  some  of  the  Churches  around  him  which  depended 
upon  more  or  less  skilled  preachers,  and  a  complete  net- 
work of  elected  assemblies.  For  all  purposes  of  conquest 
he  had  got  preachers  enough  out  of  the  public-houses ;  but 
he  could  not  imagine  their  holding  regular  congregations, 
or  developing  the  work,  without  having  years  for  study  and 
just  such  plans  as  the  Churches  had  established.  Hence, 
when  he  wanted  leaders  for  the  enlargement  of  the  work 
he  advertised  for  them  in  Methodist  or  other  publications. 
He  secured  some  excellent,  well-meaning  men,  too;  but, 
in  almost  every  instance,  they  proved  to  be  slower  than  the 
troops  they  were  supposed  to  lead,  and  a  kind  of  ecclesias- 
tical organisation  wrapped  them  all  around  with  a  sort  of 
Saul's  armour,  in  which  fighting  the  heathen  was  unthink- 

72 


ARMY  LEADING  73 

able.  He  had  got — ^by  the  testimony,  as  we  have  seen,  of 
impartial  observers — such  a  force  as  was  "  unparalleled  in 
extent,  unsectarian  in  character,  and  a  standing  rebuke  to 
the  apathy  of  Christians." 

But  how  was  he  to  go  further  afield  with  it?  He  had 
not  a  leader  ready  for  its  extension  outside  London.  In 
1873,  Mrs.  Booth,  however,  could  not  be  content  without 
doing  something,  at  least  for  a  season,  in  England's  great 
naval  base,  Portsmouth,  and,  after  that,  in  the  sister  arsenal 
city  of  Chatham.  The  force  of  new  Converts  she  gath- 
ered in  each  town  must  needs  be  led  by  somebody,  and  in 
each  case  The  General  sent  men  of  proved  ability  to  manu- 
facture preachers  of  their  own  fighting  type.  After  hav- 
ing led  Missions  in  those  towns,  they  went  and  did  likewise 
in  two  of  the  great  manufacturing  cities  of  the  north.  But 
their  first  achievements  had  led  The  General  to  venture 
upon  sending  out  others,  of  much  less  ability,  to  smaller 
communities,  where  they  were  not  less  successful  than  the 
first  two. 

Already  another  great  difificulty  had  been  solved,  for  it 
had  been  found  that  congregations  of  workmen  gathered 
in  the  provincial  towns  would  give  collections  generally 
large  enough  to  defray  the  local  expenses.  Thus  were 
cleared  away  not  only  two  of  the  main  blocks  in  the  path 
of  progress,  but  all  need  or  desire  for  the  ofificialdom  that 
had  already  begun  to  grow  threateningly  stiff. 

"After  awhile,"  writes  The  General,  "the  work  began  to 
spread  and  show  wonderful  promise,  and  then,  when  every- 
thing was  looking  like  progress  a  new  trouble  arose.  It  came 
about  in  this  wise.  Some  of  the  evangelists  whom  I  had  en- 
gaged to  assist  me  rose  up  and  wanted  to  convert  our  Mission 
into  a  regular  Church,  with  a  Committee  of  Management  and 
all  that  sort  of  thing.  They  wanted  to  settle  down  in  quiet- 
ness. I  wanted  to  go  forward  at  all  costs.  But  I  was  not  to 
be  defeated  or  turned  from  the  object  on  which  my  heart  was 
set  in  this  fashion,  so  I  called  them  together,  and  addressing 
them  said,  *  My  comrades,  the  formation  of  another  Church  is 
not  my  aim.  There  are  plenty  of  Churches.  I  want  to  make 
an  Army.    Those  among  you  who  are  willing  to  help  me  to 


74  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

realise  my  purpose  can  stay  with  me.  Those  who  do  not  must 
separate  from  me,  and  I  will  help  them  to  find  situations  else- 
where.' " 


They  one  and  all  chose  to  stand  by  The  General,  for 
those  who  were  really  set  upon  the  formation  of  delib- 
erative assemblies  had  already  left  us. 

This  was  in  February,  1877,  and  in  the  following  July 
the  last  Christian  Mission  Conference  met  to  celebrate  the 
abandonment  of  the  entire  system  that  Conference  repre- 
sented, and  to  assure  The  General  that  he  had  got  a  real 
fighting  Army  to  lead. 

It  was  only  at  the  end  of  1878,  during  which  year  the 
"  Stations,"  which  we  now  call  Corps,  had  increased  from 
thirty  to  eighty,  that  in  a  brief  description  of  the  work  we 
called  the  Mission  a  "  Salvation  Army."  But  the  very 
name  helped  us  to  increase  the  speed  of  our  advance. 

The  rapidity  with  which  The  General  selected  and  sent 
out  his  Officers  reminds  one  constantly  of  the  stories  of  the 
Gospel.  One  who  became  one  of  his  foremost  helpers, 
had  formerly  been  a  notorious  sinner,  and  had  indeed  only 
been  converted  a  fortnight,  when  because  he  already  showed 
such  splendid  qualities  he  was  sent  by  a  girl  Officer  to  The 
General  with  the  strongest  recommendation  for  acceptance. 

It  was  arranged  for  him  to  speak  with  The  General  on 
the  platform,  after  a  Meeting.  The  General,  who  had,  no 
doubt,  observed  him  during  the  evening,  looked  at  him  for 
a  moment  and  then  said,  "  You  ought  to  do  something  for 
God  with  those  eyes !     Good-night !  " 

"  I  had  never  had  such  a  shock,"  says  the  Commissioner, 
as  he  now  is.  "If  that's  being  accepted  for  the  Work,  I 
said  to  myself — what  next,  I  wonder." 

But,  sure  enough,  in  another  three  weeks'  time  he  was 
called  out  from  his  place  of  employment  by  a  Staff  Officer, 

who  asked  him,  "  Can  you  be  ready  to  go  to  M next 

Monday  ?  "     And  he  went. 

This  young  man  had  been  a  devotee  of  billiards;  but 
had  become  interested  in  The  Army  by  seeing  two  of  our 
"  Special "  speakers — one  a  very  short  Officer,  the  other  a 


ARMY  LEADING  75 

giant  doctor  from  Whitechapel,  who  weighed  some  334 
lbs.,  wheeled  up  a  steep  hill  in  a  pig  cart,  to  a  great  Open- 
Air  Meeting.  After  listening  many  times  without  yield- 
ing, he  was  startled  out  of  his  coolness  by  a  large  Hall  in 
which  he  attended  a  Night  of  Prayer  being  burned  to  the 
ground  the  next  day.  The  next  evening,  with  one  of  his 
companions,  he  went  to  the  Penitent-Form  and  found  the 
mercy  of  God. 

When  The  General  was  at  all  in  doubt  about  a  Candi- 
date for  Officership,  he  would  often  draw  such  a  one  out 
by  means  of  the  most  discouraging  remarks.  To  one  who 
had  gone  expecting  a  hearty  welcome,  he  said,  "  Well, 
what  good  do  you  think  you'll  be?"  The  General's  eldest 
son  being  present,  desiring  to  help  her,  remarked  upon  the 
high  commendation  her  Officers  gave  her.  He  wished  to 
send  her  off  directly  to  a  Corps ;  but  The  General,  still  un- 
certain, said,  "  No,  send  her  to  Emma,"  which  opened  the 
way  for  her  immediately  to  leave  her  business  and  go  to 
the  newly-opened  Training  Home  for  women  under  his 
daughter's  direction. 

A  similar  Home  for  young  men,  under  the  present  Chief 
of  the  Staff,  Commissioner  Howard,  provided  means  to 
take  those  about  whose  fitness  for  the  Work  there  was  any 
doubt,  and  give  them  a  training  prior  to  sending  them  on  to 
the  Field. 

In  1880,  The  General  addressed  the  Wesleyan  Metho- 
dist Conference  of  the  United  Kingdom.  That  Confer- 
ence is  one  of  the  most  powerful  Church  assemblies  in  the 
world,  directing  as  it  does  the  entire  forces  of  its  Church 
within  the  British  Empire,  and  consequently  influencing 
very  largely  all  Methodists  in  the  world.  It  was  a  remark- 
able testimony  to  The  General's  work  that,  so  early  as 
1880,  its  most  influential  leaders  should  have  been  able  to 
arrange,  despite  considerable  opposition,  for  him  to  address 
the  Conference  which  that  year  sat  in  London.  The  Presi- 
dent, in  welcoming  him,  warned  him  that  they  could  only 
give  him  a  limited  time  in  which  to  speak. 

What  an  expression  of  his  sense  of  liberty  and  power 
"  from  on  high,"  that  The  General  should  at  once  have 


76  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

begun  by  saying,  "  Mr.  President,  in  our  Meetings  we  are 
accustomed  to  bring  any  speech  that  seems  likely  to  go  on 
too  long  to  a  close  by  beginning  to  sing.  I  shall  not  take 
it  amiss  if  you  do  so  in  my  case."  The  general  laughter 
with  which  this  suggestion  was  greeted  banished  at  once 
any  appearance  of  stiffness  from  the  solemn  and  exclusive 
assembly,  whose  members  alone  were  present.  He  then 
proceeded  to  explain  the  origin  and  work  of  The  Army,  as 
follows : — 


"I  was  told  that  ninety-five  in  every  hundred  of  the  popu- 
lation of  our  larger  towns  and  cities  never  crossed  the  threshold 
of  any  place  of  worship,  and  I  thought,  *  Cannot  something  be 
done  to  reach  these  people  with  the  Gospel?'  Fifteen  years 
ago  I  thus  fell  in  love  with  the  great  crowds  of  people  who 
seemed  to  be  out  of  the  pale  of  all  Christian  Churches.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  if  we  could  get  them  to  think  about  Hell 
they  would  be  certain  to  want  to  turn  from  it.  If  we  could 
get  them  to  think  about  Heaven  they  would  want  to  go  there. 
If  we  could  get  them  to  think  about  Christ  they  would  want 
to  rush  to  His  open  arms. 

"I  resolved  to  try,  and  'The  Salvation  Army'  is  the  out- 
come of  that  resolution.  In  August,  1877,  we  had  26  Stations. 
We  have  now,  in  1880,  162.  In  1877,  we  had  35  Evangelists. 
We  have  now  285  Evangelists,  or,  as  we  now  call  them,  Officers, 
and  in  many  instances  they  have  the  largest  audiences  in  the 
towns  where  they  are  at  work. 

"We  have  got  all  those  Officers  without  any  promise  or 
guarantee  of  salary,  and  without  any  assurance  that  when  they 
reach  the  railway  station  to  which  they  book  they  will  find 
anybody  in  the  town  to  sympathise  with  them.  The  bulk  would 
cheerfully  and  gladly  go  anywhere. 

"  We  have  got,  I  think,  an  improvement  upon  John  Wesley's 
penny  a  week  and  shilling  a  quarter,  by  way  of  financial  sup- 
port from  our  Converts.  We  say  to  them,  '  You  used  to  give 
three  or  four  shillings  a  week  for  beer  and  tobacco  before  you 
were  converted,  and  we  shall  not  be  content  with  a  penny  a 
week  and  a  shilling  a  quarter.  Give  as  the  Lord  has  prospered 
you,  and  down  with  the  money.'  "  (Loud  laughter.)  "  When  I 
asked  one  of  my  Officers  the  other  day  at  a  Meeting  held 
after  a  tea,  for  which  the  people  had  paid  a  shiUing  each,  to 


ARMY  LEADING  77 

announce  the  collection,  the  woman-Captain,  to  my  astonish- 
ment, simply  said,  *  Now,  friends,  go  into  the  collection. 
Whack  it  into  the  baskets/  The  whole  audience  was  evidently 
fond  of  her,  and  they  very  heartily  responded. 

"If  asked  to  explain  our  methods,  I  would  say:  Firstly,  we 
do  not  fish  in  other  people's  waters,  or  try  to  set  up  a  rival  sect. 
Out  of  the  gutters  we  pick  up  our  Converts,  and  if  there  be 
one  man  worse  than  another  our  Officers  rejoice  the  most  over 
the  case  of  that  man. 

"  When  a  man  gets  saved,  no  matter  how  low  he  is,  he  rises 
immediately.  His  wife  gets  his  coat  from  the  pawn-shop,  and 
if  she  cannot  get  him  a  shirt  she  buys  him  a  paper  front,  and 
he  gets  his  head  up,  and  is  soon  unable  to  see  the  hole  of  the 
pit  from  which  he  has  been  digged,  and  would  like  to  convert 
our  rough  concern  into  a  chapel,  and  make  things  respectable. 
That  is  not  our  plan.  We  are  moral  scavengers,  netting  the 
very  sewers.  We  want  all  we  can  get,  but  we  want  the  lowest 
of  the  low. 

"My  heart  has  gone  out  much  after  Ireland  of  late,  and 
ten  weeks  ago  I  sent  out  there  a  little  woman  who  had  been 
much  blessed,  and  four  of  her  Converts.  They  landed  at  Bel- 
Ifast  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  They  did  not  know  a  soul. 
Our  pioneer  (contrary  to  our  usual  customs)  had  taken  them 
a  lodging.  We  had  said  to  her,  *  Rest  yourselves  till  Sunday 
morning';  but  she  was  not  content  with  this.  After  a  wash, 
a  cup  of  tea,  and  a  little  sleep,  they  turned  out,  found  a  Chris- 
tian gentleman  who  lent  them  a  little  hall,  had  it  crowded  at 
once,  and  now,  though  only  ten  weeks  have  passed  away,  we 
have  Stations  in  four  other  towns,  two  in  Belfast,  and  two 
others  are  getting  ready  for  opening.  Blessed  results  have 
tfollowed.  The  people,  we  are  told,  come  in  crowds — they  are 
very  poor — they  sit  and  listen  and  weep,  rush  out  to  the  Peni- 
tent-Form, and  many  are  saved. 

"  Now,  Mr.  President,  I  think  I  may  say  that  it  is  a  matter 
for  great  thankfulness  to  God  that  there  is  a  way — a 
simple,  ready  way — a  cheap  way,  to  get  at  the  masses  of  the 
people. 

''  Secondly.  We  get  at  these  people  by  adapting  our  measures. 
There  is  a  most  bitter  prejudice,  amongst  the  lower  classes, 
against  churches  and  chapels.  I  am  sorry  for  this;  I  did  not 
create  it,  but  it  is  the  fact.  They  will  not  go  into  a  church  or 
chapel ;  but  they  will  go  into  a  theatre  or  warehouse,  and  there- 
fore we  use  these  places.     In  one  of  our  villages  we  use  the 


78  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

pawnshop,  and  they  gave  it  the  name  of  *  The  Salvation  Pawn- 
shop/ and  many  souls  were  saved  there.  Let  me  say  that  I 
am  not  the  inventor  of  all  the  strange  terms  that  are  used  in 
The  Army.  I  did  not  invent  the  term  'Hallelujah  Lassies.* 
When  I  first  heard  of  it  I  was  somewhat  shocked ;  but  telegram 
after  telegram  brought  me  word  that  no  buildings  would  con- 
tain the  people  who  came  to  hear  the  Hallelujah  Lassies. 
Rough,  uncouth  fellows  liked  the  term.  One  had  a  lassie  at 
home,  another  went  to  hear  them  because  he  used  to  call  his 
wife  *  Lassie'  before  he  was  married.  My  end  was  gained, 
and  I  was  satisfied. 

"Thirdly.  We  set  the  Converts  to  work"  (Hear,  hear.) 
"As  soon  as  a  man  gets  saved  we  put  him  up  to  say  so,  and 
in  this  testimony  lies  much  of  the  power  of  our  work.  One 
of  our  lassies  was  holding  a  Meeting  in  a  large  town  the  other 
day  when  a  conceited  fellow  came  up  to  her  saying,  'What 
does  an  ignorant  girl  like  you  know  about  religion?  I  know 
more  than  you  do.  I  can  say  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  Latin.* 
*  Oh,  but,'  she  replied,  *  I  can  say  more  than  that.  I  can  say 
the  Lord  has  saved  my  soul  in  English.''  (Laughter  and 
cheers.) 

"Lastly.  We  succeed  by  dint  of  hard  work.  I  tell  my  peo- 
ple that  hard  work  and  Holiness  will  succeed  anywhere." 

Of  course,  every  day's  march  forv^ard  brought  with  it 
lessons  that  were  learned  and  utilised.  Not  long  could 
The  General  continue  to  interview  Candidates  himself,  and 
then  forms  of  application  were  evolved.  The  Candidate 
must  have  every  opportunity  to  understand  what  would 
be  required  of  him,  and  to  express  his  agreement  or  other- 
wise with  the  teachings  and  principles  of  The  Army.  It 
was  made  clear  to  him  or  her  that,  whilst  called  upon  to 
offer  up  a  life-long  service  to  this  work  for  Christ's  sake, 
he  must  expect  no  guarantee  of  salary  whatever,  and  no 
engagement  even  to  continue  to  employ  him,  should  he  at 
any  time  cease  to  act  up  to  his  promises,  or  show  himself 
to  be  inefficient  in  the  work. 

As  for  the  Soldiers,  it  was  soon  required  of  them  that 
they  should  sign  "  Articles  of  War  "  before  they  could  be 
enrolled.  These  Articles  formed  so  simple  and  clear  an 
expression  of  The  Army's  teachings  and  system,  that  the 


ARMY  LEADING  79 

most  illiterate  in  every  land  could  at  once  take  in  their  prac- 
tical effect. 

The  Articles  simply  required  every  one  to  give  up  the 
use  of  intoxicants;  to  keep  from  any  resorts,  habits,  com- 
pany, or  language  that  would  be  harmful ;  and  to  devote  all 
the  leisure  time,  spare  energy  and  money  to  the  War. 

As  time  went  on  The  General  published  Orders  and 
Regulations  for  Soldiers,  a  booklet  of  164  pages,  and  per- 
haps as  complete  a  handbook  for  the  direction  of  every 
department  of  life,  public  and  private,  as  was  ever  writ- 
ten; Orders  and  Regulations  for  Field  Officers,  containing 
626  pages  of  the  minutest  directions  for  every  branch  of 
the  Work;  and  Orders  and  Regulations  for  Staff  Officers, 
the  most  extraordinary  directory  for  the  management  of 
missionaries  and  missionary  affairs  that  could  well  be 
packed  in  357  pages.  At  later  dates  he  issued  Orders  and 
Regulations  for  Territorial  Commissioners  and  Chief  Sec- 
retaries,  containing  176  pages,  and  Orders  and  Regulations 
for  Social  Officers,  the  latter  a  complete  explanation  of  his 
thoughts  and  wishes  for  the  conduct  of  every  form  of 
effort  for  the  elevation  of  the  homeless  and  workless  and 
fallen ;  and  Orders  and  Regulations  for  Local  Officers,  con- 
taining precise  details  as  to  the  duties  of  all  the  various 
non-commissioned  or  lay  Officers,  whether  engaged  in  work 
for  old  or  young.  Smaller  handbooks  of  Orders  and  Reg- 
ulations  for  Bands  and  Songster  Brigades,  and  for  almost 
every  other  class  of  agents  were  also  issued  from  time  to 
time. 

Thus,  step  by  step,  The  General  not  merely  led  those  who 
gave  themselves  up  to  follow  him  in  the  ever-extending 
War;  but  furnished  them  with  such  simple  and  clear  di- 
rections in  print  as  would  enable  them  at  any  distance  from 
him  to  study  his  thoughts,  principles,  and  practices,  and 
seek  God's  help  to  do  for  the  people  around  them  all  that 
had  been  shown  to  be  possible  elsewhere. 

With  such  a  complete  code  of  instructions  there  naturally 
arose  a  system  of  reporting  and  inspection  which  enabled 
The  General  to  ascertain,  with  remarkable  accuracy,  how 
far  his  wishes  were  being  carried  out,  or  neglected,  by  any 


80  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

of  his  followers.  He  sometimes  said,  "  I  would  like,  if  I 
could,  to  get  a  return  from  every  man  and  every  woman 
in  The  Army  as  to  what  they  do  for  God  and  their  fellow- 
men  every  day."  It  soon  became  impossible,  of  course, 
for  any  one  person  to  examine  the  returns  which  were  fur- 
nished by  the  Corps;  but  records  were  kept,  and,  as  the 
work  increased,  Divisional  and  Provincial  Officers  were 
appointed,  with  particular  responsibility  for  the  Work  in 
their  areas ;  so  that  in  even  the  most  distant  corners  of  the 
world,  wherever  there  is  a  registered  Salvationist,  there  is 
some  Staff  Officer  to  whom  he  must  report  what  he  is  do- 
ing, and  who  is  expected  periodically  to  visit  each  Corps, 
see  that  the  reports  made  are  accurate,  and  that  the  work 
is  not  merely  being  done  "  somehow,"  but  done  as  it  ought 
to  be,  in  the  Master's  Spirit  of  Love  and  Hope  for  the 
vilest.  And  all  this  without  the  absolute  promise  of  a 
penny  reward  to  any  one!  In  fact,  from  the  first.  The 
General  taught  his  Officers  that  they  must  try  to  raise  all 
expenses  of  the  work  in  their  Commands  within  the  bor- 
ders of  the  districts  in  which  they  were  operating.  He  has 
always  regarded  it  as  a  proper  test  of  the  value  of  work 
done  that  those  who  see  it  are  willing  to  pay  as  much  as 
they  can  towards  its  continuance.  And,  to  this  day.  The 
Army's  resources  consist  not  so  much  in  large  gifts  from 
outsiders  as  of  the  pence  of  those  who  take  part  in  or  at- 
tend its  services. 

Regulations  are  made,  from  time  to  time,  as  to  the 
amount  any  Officer  may  draw  for  himself,  according  to  the 
cost  of  living  where  he  is  at  work,  though  a  considerable 
number  do  not  regularly  receive  the  full  amount.  So  ut- 
terly, indeed,  above  any  such  consideration  have  our  Offi- 
cers, everywhere,  proved  themselves  to  be  that,  to  guard 
against  needless  sacrifice  of  health  and  life,  it  has  been 
necessary  to  fix,  also,  in  each  country,  a  minimum  allow- 
ance, which  the  Staff  Officers  must  see  that  the  Field  Offi- 
cers receive.  Knowing,  as  I  do,  that  many  devoted  Officers 
have,  for  months  together,  been  down  at  the  minimum 
level  of  six  shillings  per  week,  in  little  places  where  we 
have  no  wealthy  friends  to  help  a  Corps  into  greater  pros- 


ARMY  LEADING  81 

perity,  I  feel  it  safe  to  say  that  never  was  there  a  religious 
society  raised  and  led  to  victory  with  so  much  reliance  upon 
Divine  Grace  to  keep  its  workers  in  a  perfectly  unselfish 
and  happy  condition. 

Space  forbids  any  description  of  the  heroic  labours  by 
which  The  General  and  Mrs.  Booth,  travelling,  holding 
Meetings,  and  corresponding,  managed  to  extend  The 
Army's  work  throughout  Great  Britain;  so  that  before  its 
name  had  been  adopted  ten  years,  it  had  made  itself  loved 
or  dreaded  in  many  parts. 

At  the  earliest  possible  date  in  The  Army's  history,  The 
General  took  steps  to  get  its  constitution  and  rights  so 
legally  established  that  it  should  be  impossible  for  any  one, 
after  his  death,  to  wrest  from  it  or  turn  to  other  purposes 
any  of  the  property  which  had  been  acquired  for  its  use 
by  a  Deed  Poll  enrolled  in  the  High  Court  of  Chancery  of 
England,  August  7,  1878.  The  construction,  aims  and 
practices  of  The  Army  are  so  defined  that  its  identity  can 
never  be  disputed.  Another  Deed  Poll,  enrolled  January 
30,  1 89 1,  similarly  safeguarded  The  Army's  Social  Work, 
so  that  persons  or  corporations  desiring  to  contribute  only 
to  the  Social  funds  could  make  sure  that  they  were  doing 
so.  Similar  Deeds  or  other  provisions  are  made  in  every 
other  country  where  we  are  at  work,  containing  such  ref- 
erences to  the  British  Deeds,  that  the  absolute  unity  of  The 
Army,  and  the  entire  subjection  of  every  part  of  it  to  its 
one  General  is,  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  each  coun- 
try, secured  for  all  time. 

And  again  a  deed  dated  July  26th,  1904,  has  provided 
for  the  case  of  a  General's  death  without  having  first  named 
his  successor,  or  for  any  other  circumstance  which  might 
arise  rendering  a  special  appointment  necessary. 

Subsequent  chapters  will  show  how  wondrously  God 
helped  The  General  to  carry  on  this  work  in  other  countries 
as  well  as  in  his  own,  and  we  cannot  believe  that  any  one 
will  read  this  book  through  without  being  constrained  to 
admit  that  there  has  not  merely  been  the  accomplishment, 
under  The  General's  own  eye,  of  an  enormous  amount  of 
good ;  but  the  formation  and  maintenance  of  a  force  for  the 


82  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

continual  multiplication  of  it  all,  in  every  clime,  such  as  no 
other  leader  ever  before  attempted,  or  even  planned.  And 
then  most  will  be  constrained  surely  to  say  with  us :  "  It  is 
the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes." 


Chapter  X 

DESPERATE  FIGHTING 

One  might  have  supposed  that  a  man  who  thus  raised  a 
force  of  working  people  to  do  good  to  others,  would  in  a 
Christian  country  have  been  honoured  and  encouraged  by 
all  the  better  elements,  and  defended  with  vigour  by  the 
press,  the  pulpit,  and  the  police  against  any  of  the  lower 
sort  who  might  oppose  him  or  his  followers. 

To  the  shame  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  alas!  it  must 
be  told  that,  so  far  from  this  being  the  case.  The  General 
was  generally  treated  for  the  first  few  years  of  The  Army's 
work  as  being  unworthy  to  be  received  in  any  decent  so- 
ciety, and  his  followers,  as  "  blasphemers  of  religion  "  and 
"  disturbers  of  the  peace,"  who  ought  by  all  possible  means 
to  be  suppressed. 

Those  who  fattened  on  the  vices  of  the  poor  and  the  op- 
ponents of  religion  generally  were  undoubtedly  the  leaders 
of  opposition  to  his  work.  There  were  only  too  many 
ignorant  ruffians  ready  to  delight  in  any  excuse  for  dis- 
turbance, and  very  many  truly  religious  people  who  put 
down  every  disturbance  so  created  to  The  Army's  account, 
and  who,  without  taking  the  trouble  to  make  any  inquiry, 
denounced  it  mercilessly. 

Condemned  almost  whenever  mentioned,  either  by  press 
or  pulpit,  The  General  and  The  Army  were  naturally 
treated  by  many  authorities  and  largely  by  respectable  citi- 
zens, not  only  as  unworthy  of  any  defence,  but  as  deserv- 
ing of  punishment  and  imprisonment.  In  one  year  alone, 
1882,  no  fewer  than  699  of  our  Officers  and  Soldiers,  251 
of  them  women  and  23  children  under  fifteen,  were  brutally 
assaulted  generally  whilst  marching  through  the  streets 
singing  hymns,  though  often  when  attending  Meetings  in 
our  own  hired  buildings,  and  86,  of  whom  15  were  women, 

83 


84.  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

were  imprisoned.  True,  these  persecutions  almost  always 
gained  for  us  sympathy  and  friends,  as  many  as  30,000 
people  coming  out  in  one  case  to  the  railway  station  to 
welcome  an  Officer  upon  his  release  from  prison.  Yet, 
year  after  year,  such  attacks  were  repeated,  and,  even  dur- 
ing the  last  year,  imprisonment  was  suffered  by  several 
Officers  for  leading  Meetings  where  they  had  regularly 
been  tolerated  for  some  thirty  years ;  but  where  some  newly- 
appointed  dignitary  would  rather  not  see  them. 

When  we  ask  in  wonder  how  so  bitter  an  opposition  to 
such  a  leader,  or  his  work,  could  arise,  we  always  find  the 
sort  of  explanation  which  that  famous  man  John  Bright 
once  wrote  to  Mrs.  Booth : — 

"  The  people  who  mob  you  would  doubtless  have  mobbed 
the  Apostles.  Your  faith  and  patience  will  prevail.  The 
'craftsmen'  who  find  'their  craft  in  danger,'  'the  high  priests 
and  elders  of  the  people,*  whose  old-fashioned  counsels  are 
disregarded  by  newly-arrived  stirrers-up  of  men,  always  com- 
plain, and  then  the  governors  and  magistrates,  who  may  '  care 
for  none  of  these  things,'  but  who  always  act  *  in  the  interests 
of  the  public  peace,'  think  it  best  to  *  straightly  charge  these 
men  to  speak  no  more'  of  Christ." 

The  General's  attitude  in  face  of  all  these  storms  was 
ever  the  same ;  "  Go  straight  on ''  was  the  pith  of  all  his 
replies  to  inquiries,  and  his  own  conduct  and  bearing  amidst 
the  most  trying  hours  were  always  in  accord  with  that 
counsel.  As  in  the  case  of  many  popular  leaders  of  thought 
in  England,  the  custom  was  established  of  meeting  him  at 
railway  stations,  and  escorting  him  with  bands  and  ban- 
ners, music  and  song  from  train  to  theatre.  Town  Hall,  or 
whatever  the  meeting-place  might  be  for  the  day.  When 
he  was  received,  however,  not  as  in  later  years  with  uni- 
versal acclamations,  but  with  derisive  shouts  and  groans 
and  sometimes  with  showers  of  stones  and  mud,  he  smiled 
to  see  the  commotion,  and  took  every  opportunity  to  show 
his  enemies  how  much  he  loved  them.  Already  more  than 
fifty  years  old,  and  looking  decidedly  older,  when  the  worst 
of  these  storms  burst  upon  him,  this  bearing  often  subdued 


DESPERATE  FIGHTING  85 

crowds,  the  moment  they  really  caught  sight  of  his  grey 
beard. 

"  At  Ipswich/'  says  one  of  our  Commissioners,  "  I  re- 
member how  he  won  over  the  booing  crowd  by  laughingly 
imitating  them,  and  saying,  *  I  can  boo  as  well  as  you.* 
Riding  with  Mrs.  Booth  through  one  of  the  worst  riots 
that  he  experienced,  and  in  full  sight  of  all  the  violence 
which  nearly  cost  one  of  our  Officers  his  life.  The  General 
was  seen,  even  when  his  carriage  was  all  splattered  with 
mud  and  stones,  standing  as  usual  to  encourage  his  Sol- 
diers and  to  salute  the  p.eople.  Arrived  at  the  great  hall 
he  was  fitter  than  most  of  his  people  to  conduct  the  Meet- 
ing there." 

How  much  his  own  calm  and  loving  spirit  was  com- 
municated to  many  of  his  followers  may  best  be  repre- 
sented by  the  remarks  of  a  wounded  Lieutenant  on  that 
occasion  to  a  local  newspaper  whilst  he  was  in  hospital. 

The  fact  that  this  Lieutenant  had  been  the  champion 
wrestler  of  his  county,  and  would  never,  before  his  con- 
version, have  allowed  any  one  to  take  any  liberty  with  him, 
will  explain  the  way  in  which  from  time  tc  time  The  Gen- 
eral acquired  Officers  capable  of  overcoming  such  crowds. 

The  Lieutenant,  riding  in  the  very  dress  he  had  once 
worn  as  an  athlete,  but  with  our  Salvation  Army  band 
around  his  helmet,  was  a  perfect  target  for  the  enemy. 

"  When  I  came  to  S ,  I  never  thought  for  one  mo- 
ment that  I  should  have  to  suffer  and  to  be  taken  to  a 
hospital  for  my  blessed  Master;  but  I  have  had  a  happy 
time  there.  I  can  truly  say  that  the  Spirit  of  God  has 
revealed  wondrous  things  to  me  since  I  have  been  in. 
Though  I  have  suffered  terrible  pains,  the  Great  Physician 
has  been  close  by  my  side." 

(Whilst  being  removed  into  the  hospital  he  was  heard 
to  whisper  "  I  hope  they'll  all  get  saved.")  But  he  goes 
on,  "  When  I  became  conscious  I  found  myself  in  the  hos- 
pital with  a  painful  head  and  body ;  but  it  was  well  with  my 
soul.  The  grace  of  God  constituted  my  soul's  happiness, 
so  much  so,  that  when  I  thought  about  Paul  and  Silas  be- 
ing taken  to  prison,  and  how  they  praised  God  and  sung 


86  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

His  praises,  my  heart  sang  within  me.  I  could  not  sing 
aloud  for  the  pain  I  was  suffering.  Could  I  have  done  so, 
I  would  have  made  the  place  ring  for  the  victory  the  Lord 
had  given  me  in  the  battle.  Glory  to  His  Name!  I  re- 
member I  had  no  sleep  until  twelve  o'clock  the  second  night 
I  was  in.  The  first  night  was  an  all-night  of  pain.  At 
the  same  time  it  was  an  all-night  with  Jesus.  He  was  in- 
deed very  precious  to  my  soul.  I  thought  of  the  sufferings 
of  Christ  for  me — even  then — the  chief  of  all  sinners  until 
saved  by  His  grace.  Hallelujah  for  His  love  to  me.  My 
suffering  was  nothing  (though  I  suffered  thirteen  weeks) 
compared  to  Christ's.  Should  my  blessed  Saviour  want 
me  to  do  the  work  over  again,  I  should  do  it  to-morrow.'' 

"  The  General,"  says  one  of  his  chosen  associates  of  those 
times,  "  always  reminded  me  so  of  the  captain  of  a  vessel 
in  a  stormy  sea.  Perfectly  calm  himself  in  a  way,  yet 
going  resolutely  ahead  with  unerring  aim,  quickly  deciding 
whenever  a  decision  was  needed,  and  always  ready  to  take 
all  the  risks ;  he  trained  his  folks  how  to  go  through  every- 
thing that  came,  to  victory." 

One  of  the  weakest  of  the  many  women  whom  in  those 
days  he  taught  how  to  rise  up  out  of  their  ease  and  go  to 
battle  and  victory,  says  of  her  first  sight  of  him,  more  than 
forty  years  ago,  "  He  gave  me  the  impression  in  that  Meet- 
ing of  a  man  of  God,  whose  only  aim  was  the  Salvation  of 
souls.  I  got  saved  at  one  of  Mrs.  Booth's  Meetings,  when 
I  was  still  a  girl  only  twelve  years  old.  They  used  to  call 
me  *  Praying  Polly.'  But,  never  having  had  a  day's  school- 
ing, when  he  wanted  me  to  become  an  Officer,  I  feared  my 
own  incompetence.  Mrs.  Booth  said  *  You  will  see  God 
will  punish  you.'  She  had  seen  something  of  my  work  in 
Meetings  where  I  had  to  take  up  collections  and  turn  out 
roughs,  and  so  had  no  doubt  told  The  General  what  she 
thought  I  could  do. 

"  Sure  enough  I  was  laid  up  completely,  lost  the  use  of 
one  limb,  and  had  to  use  crutches.  But  just  as  I  came  weak 
out  of  hospital  and  penniless,  I  saw  a  shilling  lying  on  the 
ground,  picked  it  up,  and  with  it  paid  my  way  across  Lon- 
don to  The  General's  house.     I  thought,  '  Oh,  if  I  can  only 


DESPERATE  FIGHTING  87 

see  Mrs.  Booth,  I'll  get  her  to  pray  for  me,  and  get  help 
from  God/  When  I  arrived  at  the  door,  she  was  just  com- 
ing out  to  go  off  to  the  North  of  England;  but  she  sent 
her  cab  away  and  stayed  for  a  later  train,  to  attend  to  me. 
She  helped  me  up  the  steps  and  said: — 

"  *  Now  then,  are  you  willing  to  follow  God  ?  * 

"  I  didn't  feel  fit  for  anything;  but  I  said,  *  Yes,  if  God 
will  only  help  me,  I'll  go  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth 
for  Him.' 

"  Accordingly,  after  having  some  care  and  nursing  I 
recovered  strength,  and,  soon  after  returning  to  my  Corps, 
I,  in  a  Meeting  when  my  name  was  called,  forgot  my 
crutches  and  hobbled  to  the  front  without  them.  How  the 
Soldiers  all  shouted!  The  Captain  carried  them  after  me 
on  his  shoulder  home  that  night. 

"  After  I  had  been  in  the  War  for  some  months  I  was 
ordered  to  bid  farewell  to  Lancaster,  and,  whilst  resting  at 
a  little  place  near,  I  received  order  to  go  to  Scotland. 
When  I  was  at  the  station,  however,  on  the  Saturday,  I 
got  a  wire  from  The  General,  *  Orders  cancelled.  Go 
King's  Lynn.'  Nobody  at  the  station  knew,  at  first,  where 
it  was,  and  even  the  stationmaster  said,  *  You  cannot  get 
there  to-day.'  *  But  I  must,'  I  said,  *  I  have  to  commence 
my  work  there  to-morrow.'  And  he  found  out  there  was 
just  a  chance,  by  taking  an  express  part  of  the  way.  When 
I  got  there,  at  a  quarter  to  ten  at  night,  I  knew  of  no  friend, 
and  found  there  had  been  no  announcement  made  in  the 
town.  But,  on  going  to  a  Temperance  Hotel  to  put  up, 
I  learned  that  a  gentleman  near  had  the  letting  of  a  large 
hall.     I  at  once  went  to  him. 

"  *  But,'  said  he,  *  we  don't  let  like  that,  out  of  business 
hours.  And  we  are  accustomed  to  get  payment  in  advance 
of  the  £2  10^.  it  costs.' 

"As  I  had  only  sixpence  left,  I  could  pay  nothing;  but 
I  said  to  him,  '  The  Rev.  William  Booth  is  responsible. 
You  draw  up  an  agreement.  I'll  sign,  and  you  shall  have 
the  money  Monday  morning.'  Somehow  he  felt  he  could 
not  refuse  me,  and  so  I  had  got  my  hall  for  Sunday  after- 
noon and  evening. 


88  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"  After  a  good  night's  rest,  I  went  out  on  the  Sunday 
morning  and  spoke  during  the  forenoon  in  twelve  streets, 
making,  of  course,  my  announcement  of  the  afternoon  and 
evening  Meetings.  A  poor  woman  who  thought  I  was  out 
singing  to  get  bread  came  and  gave  me  lid.  saying,  *  That's 
all  I  have;  but  you  shall  have  it.'  I  had  to  do  everything 
myself  in  the  afternoon  Meeting,  for  I  could  not  get  any- 
body who  came  even  to  pray.  But  they  gave  me  twelve 
shillings.  I  wanted  them  to  help  me  hold  a  Meeting  out- 
doors at  4 130.  At  5  130  we  had  to  open  the  doors,  as  so 
many  were  waiting  to  get  in,  and  at  six  the  building  was 
packed.  We  kept  up  the  Meeting  till  after  ten  o'clock, 
by  which  time  seventeen  people  had  come  out  to  seek  Sal- 
vation. 

"  The  police  sent  me  a  message  one  Sunday  evening, 
during  the  Meeting,  that  they  wanted  me  at  the  police  sta- 
tion. I  replied  that  I  was  engaged  that  evening;  but  that 
I  was  at  their  service  any  time  after  six  the  next  morning. 
So  they  had  me  up  the  Monday  morning,  and  sentenced 
me  to  a  month's  imprisonment.  But  they  never  enforced 
it,  till  I  left  the  town. 

"  In  another  place  we  had  no  Hall,  and  I  have  seen  my 
Soldiers  in  the  early  morning  trample  snow  down  till  it  was 
hard  enough  for  us  to  kneel  upon  for  our  Prayer  Meeting. 

"  In  Tipton  one  of  the  Converts  was  called  the  *  Tipton 
Devil.'  He  once  sold  his  dead  child's  coffin  for  drink. 
When  we  got  him,  a  week  later,  to  the  Penitent-Form,  and 
I  said  to  him,  *  Now  you  must  pray,'  he  said,  *  I  can't 
pray.'  *  But  you  must,'  I  said.  After  waiting  a  moment, 
he  just  clapped  his  great  rough  hands  together  and  said, 
*  O  God,  jump  down  my  throat  and  squeeze  the  Devil  out.' 
And  then  he  said  the  old  child's  prayer : — 

Gentle  Jesus,  nteek  and  mild, 
Look  upon  a  little  child; 
Pity  my  simplicity, 
Suffer  me  to  come  to  Thee. 

If  ever  a  big  rough  fellow  came  *  like  a  little  child  '  to  Jesus 
he  did,  for  his  life  from  that  day  was  absolutely  new. 


DESPERATE  FIGHTING  89 

"  Another  of  those  men's  wives  sent  for  me,  and  said 
she  feared  he  was  going  mad,  for  he  had  hung  up  his  old 
ragged  clothes  on  the  wall.  But  we  soon  heard  him  come 
singing  up  the  street,  and  he  said,  *  I've  hung  them  up  to 
remind  us  all  what  I  was  like  when  Jesus  set  me  free.  A 
lot  of  our  blokes  have  turned  respectable,  and  gone  and 
joined  the  chapel,  and  I  thought  if  ever  the  Devil  comes  to 
tempt  me  that  way  I'll  show  him  those  clothes,  and  say, 
"  The  hand  that  was  good  enough  to  pick  me  up  will  be 
good  enough  to  lead  me  on  to  the  finish."  ' 

"  So  I  said  to  his  wife,  *  He  might  do  a  worse  thing:  let 
them  hang  there,  if  it  helps  him  any.'  " 

How  The  Army  won  so  many  of  its  worst  opponents 
to  be  its  Soldiers  comes  out  beautifully  in  a  more  recent 
story. 

"  When  I  was  a  drunkard,"  says  a  poor  woman,  "  I  used 
just  to  hate  The  Army.  But  one  day,  as  I  was  drinking 
in  the  *  King  George '  public-house,  I  heard  them  singing 
to  an  old  tune  of  my  childhood,  and  that  brought  me  out.  I 
stood  and  listened,  and  the  Sergeant  of  the  Cadets,  who 
was  leading,  came  over  to  me  and  said : — 

"  *  Isn't  it  very  cold  ?  Hadn't  you  better  go  home  ? 
Don't  go  back  to  them,'  she  said,  nodding  towards  the 
public-house.  And  she  started  to  walk  with  me,  and  put 
her  jacket  round  my  shoulders.  In  that  moment  I  felt 
that  The  Salvation  Army  was  something  for  me." 

Not  only  did  this  woman  get  saved,  but  her  husband  and 
children,  too,  as  a  result  of  that  loving  act. 

There  came  times  in  many  cities,  both  in  England  and 
elsewhere,  when  our  opposers  were  formally  organised 
against  us,  under  such  names  as  "  Opposition  and  Skeleton 
Armies,"  etc.  These  were  organisations,  in  some  instances 
so  formidable,  especially  on  Sunday  afternoons,  that  at  one 
time,  in  1882,  there  would  be  1,500  police  on  extra  duty 
to  protect  us  from  their  attack.  This,  of  course,  we  much 
disliked,  and  we  gave  up  our  marches  entirely  for  a  few 
weeks,  so  that  when  we  began  again  the  police  might  get 
proper  control.  They  never  allowed  the  formation  of  these 
bands  again,  for  they  had  learned  their  lesson  by  that  time. 


90  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

But  how  marvellously  God  helped  The  General  by  means  of 
those  very  oppositions !  They  brought  us  into  close  touch 
v^ith  bodies  of  young  fellows,  many  of  whom  have  since 
become  leaders  amongst  us. 

Strange  and  sad  that  throughout  all  the  years  of  our 
most  desperate  fighting  we  scarcely  ever  found  men  from 
the  "  better  classes  "  daring  to  march  with  us.  One  noble 
exception,  Colonel  Pepper,  of  Salisbury,  with  his  wife, 
never  hesitated,  in  the  roughest  times,  to  take  their  stand 
with  their  humblest  comrades,  glad  to  go  through  whatever 
came.     To  Mrs.  Pepper  The  General  wrote  in  1880: — 

"  The  Colonel  will  have  sent  you  some  information  of  our 
Meetings.  But  any  real  description  is  impossible.  Manchester 
has,  in  many  respects,  surpassed  everything.  The  Colonel, 
himself,  has  pleased  me  immensely — so  humble  and  willing. 
When  I  look  at  him  in  the  processions,  evidently  enjoying  them, 
I  cannot  help  wondering  at  what  God  hath  wrought,  and  prais- 
ing Him.  London  seems  your  place,  and  it  has  been  borne  in 
on  my  mind  that  the  time  has  come  for  us  to  make  an  attack 
on  the  West  End,  and  to  raise  a  Corps  there,  principally  out 
of  the  proper  and  decent  people.  I  don't  mean  out  of  the 
Plymouth  Brethren,  or  the  'evangelical  party,'  so-called;  but 
out  of  the  wicked  and  wretched  class  who  have  money  and 
position  and  education,  and  who  are  floating  to  Hell  with  it  all. 

"  I  shrink  from  suggesting  further  sacrifices  to  you.  God 
give  you  wisdom.  We  have  much  success  and  much  trial,  and 
much  bitter  opposition.  We  must  have  more  and  more  success 
and  more  trial,  and  more  bitter  opposition.  We  must  have 
more  intelligent  Officers,  and  you  must  help  us  get  them." 

That  West-End  attempt,  made  later  by  Mrs.  Booth,  pro- 
duced for  us,  indeed,  some  Officers  who  have  done  much 
for  The  Army's  advancement;  although,  perhaps,  not  an- 
other Colonel  Pepper.  The  very  attacks  made  upon  us, 
however,  helped  to  attract  the  attention  of  thoughtful  peo- 
ple, and  to  lead  to  our  Meetings  persons  possessing  all  the 
gifts  needed  for  The  Army's  world-wide  extension. 

Amongst  these  were  Colonel  Mildred  Duff,  Editress  of 
our  papers  for  the  young,  and  authoress  of  a  number  of 


DESPERATE  FIGHTING  91 

books ;  Commissioner  W.  Elwin  Oliphant,  then  an  Anglican 
Clergyman;  Miss  Reid,  daughter  of  a  former  Governor  of 
Madras  and  now  the  wife  of  Commissioner  Booth-Tucker, 
of  India;  Lieut. -Colonel  Mary  Bennett,  as  well  as  Mrs.  de 
Noe  Walker,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Heywood-Smith,  and  a  num- 
ber of  other  friends  in  England  and  many  other  lands  who, 
though  never  becoming  Officers,  have  in  various  ways  been 
our  steadfast  and  useful  friends  and  supporters. 

Surely  it  can  only  be  a  question  of  time!  It  is  true 
what  our  great  Master  said:  "Not  many  wise  men  after 
the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble  are  called." 

But,  if  in  the  days  of  our  weakness  and  contempt,  it 
was  given  us  to  win  such  a  force  of  honourable  women  and 
a  man  now  and  then,  are  we  to  despair,  now  that  all  the 
world  is  awakened  to  the  value  of  our  work,  of  winning 
for  it  more  of  the  excellent  of  the  earth? 

The  prosecutions  of  our  people  by  the  police  also  helped 
us  not  only  to  attain  notoriety  locally,  but  to  gain  a  much 
higher  standing  generally.  As  soon  as  The  General  could 
find  legal  ground  for  appealing  against  the  magistrates* 
decisions  he  did  so,  and  this  not  only  obtained  for  us  judg- 
ments that  made  our  pathway  clear  in  the  future,  but  caused 
the  then  Lord  Chancellor,  the  late  Earl  Cairns,  Lord  Chief 
Justice  Cockburn,  Archbishop  Tait  of  Canterbury,  Bishop 
Lightfoot  of  Durham,  and  other  men  of  wide  influence  to 
speak  out  in  the  House  of  Lords  or  elsewhere  for  us. 

And  yet,  throughout  his  entire  career,  right  down  to  his 
last  days,  The  General  was  at  times  personally  assailed  with 
a  malevolence  and  bitterness  that  could  hardly  have  been 
exceeded.  It  has  constantly  been  suggested,  if  not  openly 
stated,  that  he  was  simply  "  making  a  pile  "  of  money  for 
himself;  and  yet,  as  will  be  seen  in  our  chapter  on  Finance 
he  made  the  most  comprehensive  arrangements  to  render 
suspicion  on  this  score  inexcusable. 

But  try,  if  you  can,  at  every  turn  throughout  all  this  life, 
whenever  you  hear  of  General  Booth,  to  realise  what  it 
means  for  such  a  man,  struggling  to  carry  on  and  extend 
such  a  work,  to  know  every  minute,  day  and  night,  that  he 
is  being  accused  and  suspected  of  seeking  only  his  own,  all 


92  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

the  time.  Remember  that  his  nature  was  perhaps  abnor- 
mally sensitive  about  any  mistrust  or  suspicion,  and  about 
the  confidence  of  those  nearest  to  him.  And  then  you  may 
have  some  conception  of  the  cross  he  had  always  to  bear, 
and  of  the  wounded  heart  that  went  about,  for  years,  in- 
side that  bold  and  smiling  figure. 

And  yet  there  is,  thank  God!  much  of  the  humorous 
to  relieve  our  tensions  in  The  Army.  A  brother  Commis- 
sioner of  mine  remembers  seeing  The  General  sail  for  the 
United  States  for  the  first  time.  As  the  steamer  swung  off, 
a  bystander  remarked,  "So  he's  off?"  "Yes."  "And 
when  do  you  go  ? "  "  Go  ?  What  do  you  mean  ? " 
"  Well,  you  will  never  see  him  again  now,  will  you  ? " 
And  then  my  comrade  fairly  took  in  that  the  man  was 
alluding  to  the  continual  prophecy  of  those  days  that  The 
General,  once  he  had  got  enough,  would  disappear  with  all 
the  money  he  had  raised.  So  that  man  went  down  to  his 
house  laughing,  and  has  been  laughing  over  it  now  for 
twenty-six  years ! 

Perhaps  The  General  gained  more  than  can  ever  be  cal- 
culated from  having  to  begin  and  to  carry  on  his  warfare, 
for  a  long  time,  in  the  very  teeth  of  public  opinion. 

We're  marching  on  to  war,  we  are,  we  are,  we  are ! 

We  care  not  what  the  people  think,  nor  what  they  say  we  are, 

was  one  of  the  favourite  choruses  which,  in  his  greatest 
public  demonstrations  in  this  country,  as  well  as  in  his 
ordinary  Meetings,  he  taught  us  to  sing. 

Only  in  this  spirit  of  utter  disregard  for  public  opinion 
have  God's  prophets,  in  all  ages,  been  able  to  do  their  work, 
and  only  whilst  they  remain  indifferent  to  men's  scorn  and 
opposition,  can  the  Soldiers  of  The  Salvation  Army  prop- 
erly discharge  their  task  of  "  warning  and  teaching  every 
man,"  in  all  wisdom. 

How  indispensable  this  state  of  mind  is  to  the  individ- 
ual Convert  only  those  who  have  lived  for  Christ  amongst 
the  hostile  surroundings  of  a  great  city  can  really  know. 
That   we   have   now   so   many    resolute   comrades,    even 


DESPERATE  FIGHTING  98 

amongst  the  young  people,  who  meet  with  no  encourage- 
ment, but  rather  with  every  sort  of  contempt  and  rebuff  in 
their  homes,  their  workshops,  and  the  neighbourhoods  in 
which  they  live,  is  alike  a  remarkable  demonstration  of  the 
extent  to  which  this  great  victory  has  been  won,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  of  the  far  wider  and  grander  conquests  that 
are  yet  to  come. 

The  gigantic  enterprises  that  lie  before  us,  if  Christ  is 
really  to  become  the  First  and  Last  with  the  millions  of 
Africa,  India,  Japan,  and  China,  as  with  those  of  America 
and  Europe,  would  be  hopeless  were  we  not  prepared  to 
raise  up  Soldiers  to  this  great  military  height  of  contempt 
for  civilian  opinion. 

But  it  may  be  that  our  very  attitude  in  this  respect  has 
whetted  the  enemy's  resolution  to  do  all  that  could  be  done 
to  prejudice  public  opinion  against  us.  The  very  large 
measure  of  popularity  or,  at  any  rate,  respect,  so  far  as 
The  Army  generally  is  concerned,  in  which  we  rejoice  to- 
day, must  be  attributed  to  the  impression  created  by  the 
calm  persistence  of  The  General,  and  those  who  have  truly 
followed  him,  in  doing  what  they  believed  to  be  right,  and 
turning  from  all  they  believed  to  be  doubtful  and  wrong, 
in  spite  of  the  general  comdemnation  and  opposition  of 
those  around  them. 

The  very  people  who  to-day  applaud  our  efforts  to  assist 
the  poorest  and  worst  to  a  self-supporting  and  honourable 
career,  are  often  blind  to  the  fact  that  we  have  only  suc- 
ceeded by  doing  the  very  things  which  they  once  said  we 
ought  not  to  do,  and  by  turning  away  from  all  the  old 
>;  customs  to  which  they  would  fain  have  chained  us. 


Chapter  XI 

REPRODUCING  THE  ARMY  IN  AMERICA 

So  far  we  have  traced  the  beginnings  of  The  Army  in  the 
United  Kingdom.  But  would  The  General  desire  or  be 
able  to  extend  it  to  other  countries?  With  regard  to  the 
need  for  it  there  is  now,  at  any  rate,  no  dispute  in  any 
"  Christian  country,"  for  almost  all  intelligent  persons, 
whatever  may  be  their  own  creed,  or  want  of  creed,  admit 
the  presence  in  their  great  cities,  if  not  elsewhere,  of  only 
too  many  of  the  sort  of  persons  to  whom  The  Army  has 
proved  useful. 

But  there  has  been  no  country  in  which  the  need  for, 
or  possible  value  of,  The  Army  has  not  been  at  first  hotly 
disputed.  We  have  seen  how  desperately  it  was  at  first 
opposed  in  the  country  of  its  birth.  And  that  could  not 
have  been  possible  had  not  so  many  really  religious  people 
looked  upon  it  as  an  "  un-English  "  sort  of  thing,  "  Ameri- 
can "  in  its  ideas  and  in  its  style  of  action.  When  it  was 
beginning  in  Scotland,  many  said  that  it  might  be  tolerated 
amidst  the  godless  masses  across  the  border,  but  that  its 
free  style  of  worship  especially  "  on  the  Lord's  Day  "  could 
not  but  be  "  a  scandal "  in  the  land  of  Sabbath  stillness ; 
whilst  as  to  Ireland,  we  were  assured  that  our  outdoor  pro- 
ceedings must  needs  lead  to  bloodshed.  ' 

When,  however,  The  General  resolved  to  send  Officers 
to  America,  there  was  hardly  a  voice  in  either  Church  or 
Press  which  did  not  ridicule  the  idea  of  our  being  of  use 
there.  And  in  the  case  of  almost  every  other  country  the 
same  prejudice  against  English  people  having  "  the  pre- 
sumption to  think  "  that  they  can  give  lessons  in  true  reli- 
gion to  any  other  nation  has  made  itself  more  or  less  felt, 
even  to  this  day. 

But,  happily,  The  General  never  took  counsel  with  flesh 
and  blood  upon  such  questions.     He  knew  that,  whatever 

94 


THE  ARMY  IN  AMERICA  95 

differences  might  exist  between  one  race  and  another,  there 
was  everywhere  the  one  sad  similarity  when  it  came  to 
neglect  of  God  and  the  soul.  That  The  Army  must  adapt 
itself  to  each  new  population  he  had  always  taught;  but 
that  it  would  ultimately  succeed  wherever  there  were  masses 
of  godless  people,  he  never  doubted. 

Really  the  first  extension  to  the  United  States  came 
about,  however,  by  no  planning  of  his.  A  family  belong- 
ing to  one  of  the  home  Corps  emigrated,  in  1879,  to  Phila- 
delphia, where  they  commenced  to  hold  Meetings  there, 
meeting  with  such  rapid  success  that  two  Corps  were  raised 
before  the  Officers  for  whom  they  pleaded  could  be  sent 
to  them. 

When  The  General  paid  his  first  visit  to  America,  in 
1886,  we  had  already  238  Corps  in  the  Union,  under  the 
leadership  of  569  Officers,  mostly  Americans.  Ten  years 
later  there  came  that  terrible  blow  to  him  and  to  the  Work, 
when  his  second  son,  who  had  been  entrusted  with  its  di- 
rection for  a  term,  left  The  Army,  and  founded  a  sep- 
arate organisation.  Notwithstanding  the  misunderstand- 
ing which  followed,  and  the  check  to  our  progress  that  was 
necessarily  involved.  The  Army  went  steadily  forward,  and 
The  General  visited  the  country  from  time  to  time,  receiving 
on  each  occasion  a  very  remarkable  welcome. 

The  appreciation  of  his  leadership  was  always  of  the 
more  value  in  the  United  States,  because  the  disinclination 
of  the  American  people  to  accept  anything  like  direction, 
let  alone  command,  from  this  side  the  Atlantic  was  always 
so  marked.  It  is  this  fact  which  gives  such  special  value 
to  the  sort  of  experiences  we  are  about  to  record  from  one 
of  the  later  tours  of  The  General,  that  of  1902-3. 

Summing  up  the  journey  and  its  general  impressions  to 
an  old  friend,  he  writes : — 


"Well,  I  have  been  busy  and  no  mistake.  Day  after  day, 
hour  after  hour,  you  might  say  minute  after  minute,  I  have 
had  duties  calling  for  immediate  attention.  Oh,  it  has  been  a 
whirl !  But  what  a  wonderful  rush  of  success  the  nine  weeks 
have  been  since  I  landed  at  New  York. 


96  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"The  people,  the  Press,  the  dignitaries  of  all  classes  have 
combined  in  the  heartiest  of  welcomes  ever  given  in  this  coun- 
try, I  suppose,  to  *  a  foreigner '  of  any  nationality.  It  has  been 
remarkable,  and,  indeed,  surprising,  for  it  was  so  largely  unex- 
pected. 

"  I  have  just  come  into  this  city  of  Kansas.  The  two  largest 
hotels  have  competed  to  have  the  privilege  of  giving  me  their 
best  rooms,  with  free  entertainment.  A  monster  brewery  that 
illumines  the  whole  city  every  night  with  a  search-light  has 
been  running  alternate  slides,  one  saying,  *  Buy  our  Lager 
Beer,'  and  the  other,  *  General  Booth  at  the  Convention  Hall 
Monday  night.'  The  building  for  my  Meeting  to-night  will 
hold  8,000  people,  and  on  Saturday  4,000  tickets  were  already 
sold. 

"You  will  be  a  little  interested  in  this  because  you  will 
know  something  of  the  difficulties  that  seemed  to  lie  ahead  of 
me  when  I  started.  God  has  been  very  good,  and  I  hope  my 
Campaign  will  do  something  towards  the  forwarding  of  His 
wishes  in  the  country." 

The  reception  at  New  York  was  one  of  the  most  enthu- 
siastic The  General  ever  had.  At  four  o'clock  on  the  Sat- 
urday morning,  enough  of  his  followers  and  friends  to  fill 
fifteen  small  steamers  had  assembled,  so  as  to  be  sure  to  be 
in  time  to  meet  his  liner.  By  way  of  salute,  when  the 
great  steamer  appeared,  they  discharged  seventy-three 
bombs — one  for  each  year  of  his  life,  as  yet  completed. 

The  New  York  Herald  said  of  his  Sunday  there: — 

"  Eight  thousand  people  heard  General  William  Booth  speak- 
ing yesterday  at  the  Academy  of  Music.  The  rain  had  no 
effect  in  keeping  either  Salvation  Army  people  or  the  general 
public  from  the  Meetings.  About  one-third  of  those  present 
wore  Salvation  Regalia. 

"  General  Booth  displayed  wonderful  energy  throughout  his 
fatiguing  day's  work.  His  voice  has  great  carrying  power, 
and  the  speaker  was  distinctly  heard  throughout  the  auditorium. 
Despite  the  fact  that  they  could  not  gain  admission  to  the 
building,  at  the  evening  service,  people  remained  standing  in 
the  drenching  rain  from  7:30  till  after  9  o'clock  to  see  The 
General  leave." 

"  At  the  close  of  his  last  address,"  says  The  Times,  "  167 


THE  ARMY  IN  AMERICA  97 

men  and  women  had  been  persuaded  to  his  point  of  view,  and 
went  to  the  Mercy-Seat." 

How  generally  the  whole  country,  and  not  merely  the 
central  areas,  was  stirred  by  the  mere  arrival  of  The  Gen- 
eral, may  be  guessed  from  the  following  words  taken  from 
the  Omaha  Daily  News  article  of  the  Monday  for  its  read- 
ers through  far-away  Nebraska : — 

"  One  of  the  arrivals  on  the  steamship  Philadelphia  is  Gen- 
eral William  Booth  of  The  Salvation  Army.  That  vessel  never 
carried  before  so  great  a  man  as  this  tall,  white-haired,  white- 
bearded  organiser,  enthusiast,  and  man-lover. 

"  Wherever  men  and  women  suffer  and  sorrow  and  despair, 
wherever  little  children  moan  and  hunger,  there  are  disciples 
of  William  Booth.  The  man's  heart  is  big  enough  to  take  in 
the  world.  He  has  made  the  strongest  distinct  impact  upon 
human  hearts  of  any  man  living.  This  is  a  man  of  the  Lincoln 
type.  Like  Lincoln  he  has  the  saving  grace  of  humour,  and 
sense  of  proportion.  There  is  something  of  the  mother-heart 
in  these  brooding  lovers  of  their  kind.  There  is  the  constrain- 
ing love  that  yearns  over  darkness  and  cold  and  empty  hearts. 
Big  hearts  are  scarce. 

"In  an  age  of  materialism  and  greed  William  Booth  has 
stirred  the  world  with  a  passion  for  the  welfare  of  men.  His 
trumpet-call  has  been  like  the  silvery  voice  of  bugles.  His 
spirit  will  live,  not  only  in  lives  made  better  by  his  presence, 
but  in  the  temper  of  all  the  laws  of  the  future." 

We  shall  see  from  the  welcomes  given  to  him  by  great 
official  personages,  that  these  remarks  do  not  in  the  least 
exaggerate  the  feeling  created  all  over  the  country  by  the 
activities  of  The  Army.  Had  The  General  merely  made 
great  proposals  he  would  only  have  been  looked  upon  in  the 
generally  favourable  way  in  which  men  naturally  regard 
every  prospector  of  benevolent  schemes.  But  the  country 
recognised  in  him  the  man  who,  in  spite  of  the  extreme 
poverty  of  most  of  his  followers,  had  raised  up,  and  was 
then  leading  on,  a  force  of  obedient  and  efficient  servants 
of  all  men. 


98  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

The  journey  was  arranged,  for  economy  of  time,  so  as 
to  include  a  visit  to  Canada,  and  its  general  course  was  as 
follows:  From  New  York  he  travelled  to  St.  John's,  New 
Brunswick,  where  the  Premier,  in  welcoming  him,  said  the 
work  of  The  Salvation  Army  had  "  placed  General  Booth 
in  a  position  perhaps  filled  by  no  other  religious  reformer." 
From  New  Brunswick  he  passed  on  to  Halifax,  Nova 
Scotia,  to  Montreal  (where  he  was  the  guest  of  Earl  Grey, 
the  Governor-General),  Ottawia,  Kingston,  Hamilton,  Lon- 
don, and  Toronto.  Thence  he  returned  to  the  States,  and 
held  Meetings  in  Buffalo,  Chicago,  Minneapolis,  and  St. 
Paul,  Des  Moines,  Kansas  City,  Denver,  Los  Angeles,  San 
Francisco,  and  Oakland,  Omaha,  St.  Joseph,  St.  Louis, 
Birmingham,  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Pittsburg,  Washing- 
ton, Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Worcester,  in  three  of  which 
cities  he  conducted  Councils  of  Officers,  in  addition  to  pub- 
lic Meetings. 

The  impression  invariably  made  wherever  he  went,  was 
thus  ably  summed  up  by  the  Chicago  Inter  ocean: — 

"  No  other  man  is  General  of  an  Army  of  people  that  circles 
the  globe.  No  emperor  commands  soldiers  serving  openly  un- 
der him  in  almost  every  nation  of  the  earth.  No  other  man 
is  called  'commander'  by  men  and  women  of  a  hundred  na- 
tionalities. 

"  Aside  from  his  power  over  the  great  Organisation  of  which 
he  is  the  head,  General  Booth  is  one  of  the  world's  most  re- 
markable figures.  His  eloquence  stirs  and  stings,  soothes  and 
wins;  and  this  eloquence  alone  would  make  him  famous,  even 
if  he  had  never  undertaken  the  great  work  he  has  done  with 
The  Salvation  Army. 

"As  he  speaks,  his  face  is  radiant  with  the  fervour  that 
carries  conviction.  His  tall  figure  and  long  arms,  used  energet- 
ically in  gestures  that  add  force  to  what  is  said,  his  white  hair 
and  beard,  and  his  speaking  eyes,  make  him  an  orator  whose 
speeches  remain  long  in  the  minds  of  those  who  hear  them. 
The  feeling  of  the  members  of  The  Army  towards  their  Com- 
mander has  in  it  both  the  love  and  reverence  of  a  large  flock 
of  their  pastor,  and,  added  to  this,  the  enthusiasm,  loyalty,  and 
energetic  spirit  of  an  Army." 


•      V  •  J  •  >   • 


GENERAL    BRAMWELL    BOOTH 


THE  ARMY  IN  AMERICA  99 

Where  so  wonderful  a  journey  is  so  filled  up  with  Meet- 
ings so  described,  and  where,  from  the  very  highest  to  the 
lowest  all  speak  so  warmly  of  him,  it  is  really  difficult 
within  the  limited  space  at  our  disposal  to  give,  without 
danger  of  monotony,  or  repetition,  any  adequate  idea  of 
what  took  place.  Americans  are  such  habitual  organisers 
of  huge  demonstrations,  and  are  so  generally  accustomed 
to  say,  publicly,  without  reserve,  what  they  think,  that  the 
expression  of  what  to  them  may  appear  perfectly  natural 
runs  the  risk  of  creating  elsewhere  an  air  of  exaggeration 
and  unreality.  But  if  we  consider  that  great  American 
States  like  Minnesota,  Ohio,  and  Michigan  contain  more 
inhabitants  than  some  of  the  kingdoms  of  Europe,  and 
that  their  Governors  are  men  likely  to  occupy  the  very 
highest  positions  in  the  government  of  America,  we  can 
realise  how  effective  amongst  the  masses  of  the  people  The 
General's  work  must  have  been  before  such  Governors 
could  be  expected  to  preside  at  his  Meetings,  and  to  speak 
of  him,  as  they  did. 

Said  Governor  Nash,  of  Ohio: — 

"  I  never  had  the  privilege  of  meeting  you  in  person,  until  I 
grasped  your  hand  upon  this  platform.  You  have  not  been 
unknown,  however,  to  me  or  to  the  people  of  Ohio.  You  rec- 
ognise the  fact  that  you  could  not  perform  this  work  well 
without  the  help  of  God.  That  your  work  has  been  well  per- 
formed is  well  known  to  us  all  from  the  fact  that  the  Organi- 
sation you  have  made  known  as  The  Salvation  Army  has  spread 
throughout  the  world,  turning  the  feet  of  multitudes  into  the 
paths  of  righteousness  and  peace.  It  has  done  good.  It  has 
done  a  great  work  wherever  it  has  gone.  It  is  for  these  rea- 
sons that  the  people  of  Ohio  welcome  you  most  cordially  to- 
night, and  they  and  I  wish  you  an  abundant  harvest  in  your 
life's  work,  and  that  at  the  end  you  may  have  the  peace  and 
rest  and  the  joy  that  God  gives  to  all  His  own  good  people." 

Similar  specially  religious  references  to  those  used  by 
Governor  Nash  came  constantly  into  the  speeches  of  other 
leaders  who  expressed  their  people's  welcomes  to  The  Gen- 
eral, showing  how  faithfully  every  opportunity  was  being 


100  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

utilised  to  exalt  Christ,  amongst  even  the  most  unusual 
crowds  assembled  on  these  occasions. 
Governor  Cummins,  of  Iowa,  said : — 

"I  have  long  wanted  an  opportunity  to  express  publicly  my 
appreciation  of  the  grand,  noble,  and  untiring  work  that  every 
day  is  being  performed  by  those  noble  and  unselfish  men  and 
women,  who  have  gathered  under  the  Flag  of  The  Salvation 
Army,  loved  and  esteemed  throughout  the  whole  world. 

"  In  every  army  there  is  a  leader.  The  Salvation  Army  has 
a  Leader  whose  commanding  figure  towers  above  the  Salva- 
tionists of  the  world,  and  has  drawn  to  himself  more  love, 
more  respect,  and  more  confidence  than  at  this  moment  centres 
in  any  other  human  being.  Of  him  it  will  be  said,  after  he 
has  passed  to  the  beautiful  shores  of  the  hereafter,  the  best 
that  can  be  said  of  any  man,  that  the  world  is  better  because 
he  lived  in  it." 

Lest  The  General  should  have  been  too  much  puffed  up 
by  all  his  successes  and  the  praises  showered  upon  him,  God 
almost  at  the  end  of  the  tour  allowed  an  accident  which 
might  easily  have  ended  his  career;  but  which  only  gave 
him  an  opportunity  to  show  more  conspicuously  than  ever 
his  resolution  to  persevere  in  his  ceaseless  labours. 

It  was  whilst  passing  along  a  dark  passage  in  New  York 
that  The  General  stumbled,  and,  but  for  God's  great  good- 
ness, would  have  fallen  into  a  cellar.  As  it  was,  one  leg 
was  very  much  bruised  and  hurt.  He  thus  described,  in 
writing,  to  a  friend  what  followed : — 

"March  13,  1903. — The  accident  came  at  a  very  unfortunate 
moment,  and  at  the  onset  it  looked  like  spoiling  the  closing 
chapters  of  the  Campaign. 

"  But  God  is  good.  I  was  favoured  with  the  services  of  one 
of  the  most  skilful  and  experienced  surgeons  in  New  York. 
He  put  my  leg  into  starch,  and  then  into  a  plaster  of  Paris 
jacket.  And  by  dint  of  resolution,  and  the  supporting  Spirit 
of  my  Heavenly  Father,  I  went  through  the  last  Meeting  with 
apparent  satisfaction  to  everybody  about  me,  and  some  little 
comfort  to  myself. 

"  It  was  a  great  effort.     The  Hall  is  one  of  the  finest  and 


THE  ARMY  IN  AMERICA:  ^01 

most  imposing  I  ever  spoke  in.  Three  tiers  of  boxes  all  round 
full  with  the  swell  class  of  people  in  whom  you  are  so  much 
interested,  with  two  galleries  beyond. 

*'  It  called  for  some  little  courage  to  rise  up  with  my  walking- 
stick  to  steady  me;  but  God  helped  me  through.  I  hung  my 
stick  on  the  rail,  and  balanced  myself  on  my  feet,  and  talked 
the  straightest  truth  I  could  command  for  an  hour  and  twenty 
minutes. 

"A  little  spectacular  function  followed  in  the  shape  of  troop-, 
ing  the  Colours  of  the  different  nationalities  amongst  whomj 
we  are  at  work  in  the  States,  and  a  midnight  torchlight  pro- 
cession, with  a  massed  farewell  from  the  balcony  of  the  Head- 
quarters, closed  the  Campaign. 

"I  am  doing  the  voyage  fairly  well.  Of  course,  it  is  very 
wearisome,  this  lying  all  the  time.  The  ship  is  rolling  and  toss- 
ing and  pitching  considerably,  and  it  looks  like  doing  so,  until 
we  get  under  shelter  of  the  land." 

The  probable  after-effect  of  these  distant  Campaigns  of 
The  General  could  not  be  better  described  than  in  the  words 
of  one  of  our  American  Officers,  himself  knov^n  through- 
out The  Army  as  one  of  our  most  spiritually-minded  and 
intelligent  observers : — 

"  Seventeen  years  ago,"  he  says,  "  the  writer  first  heard  The 
General,  and  it  has  been  his  privilege  to  hear  him  many  times 
since.  Each  succeeding  effort  and  series  of  Meetings  seems 
to  eclipse  all  the  rest.  It  was  so  in  Pittsburg,  which,  being  one 
of  the  greatest  business  centres  and  home  of  some  of  the  most 
virile  men  of  the  world,  deeply  appreciates  him. 

"He  was  very  weary  from  his  heavy  Campaign  in  Cleve- 
land, but,  in  spite  of  this,  to  me  he  seemed  at  his  best.  He 
spent  no  time  in  angling  to  get  into  sympathetic  touch  with 
them,  but  with  the  precision  of  a  bullet  he  made  direct  for 
the  conscience  of  every  man  and  woman  there.  Talk  about 
*  naked  truth,*  *  judgment,'  *  daylight,'  '  straight  preaching.*  We 
had  it  that  night,  as  I  never  heard  it  before.  There  was  no 
escape.  Every  honest  person  there  had  to  pass  judgment  on 
himself. 

"  It  was  difficult  to  close  that  Meeting.  The  truth  was  set- 
ting men  free.  Many  wept  and  prayed  and  submitted  to  God, 
and  some  fairly  howled  at  the  revelation  God  gave  them  of 


102:    .  ^SENEUAI,  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

their  character  and  conduct.  It  has  been  my  privilege  to  hear 
such  preachers  as  Beecher,  Matthew,  Simpson,  and  Phillips 
■  Brooks,  and  such  orators  as  Wendell  Phillips  and  Gough;  but 
The  General  is  the  greatest  master  of  assemblies  I  ever  met. 
He  played  on  those  vast  audiences  of  judges,  lawyers,  minis- 
ters, business  and  working  men  as  Ole  Bull  played  on  the 
violin.  They  laughed,  they  wept,  they  hung  their  heads  with 
conviction,  their  bosoms  heaved  with  emotions,  they  were  con- 
vinced, convicted,  and  a  multitude  were  converted.  I  think 
at  one  time  there  could  not  have  been  less  than  3,000  eyes 
brimming  with  tears.  He  uncovered  sin  and  made  it  appear 
as  it  is,  utterly  without  excuse,  and  utterly  loathsome;  and 
then  he  revealed  the  love  and  sympathy  and  helpfulness  of 
Christ,  till  many  could  not  resist,  but  had  to  yield. 

"  A  lawyer  said  to  me  the  next  day  that  the  sermons  and 
lecture  were  the  most  wonderful  he  had  ever  heard.  Another 
lawyer  who  had  been  to  each  Meeting  stayed  in  his  place  till 
the  very  close  on  Sunday  night,  saying  that  he  could  not  tear 
himself  away. 

"  The  common  people  heard  him  gladly,  and  the  uncommon 
people  were  overwhelmed  with  admiration,  and  conviction.  A 
young  lady,  belonging  to  one  of  the  best  families  in  the  city, 
just  home  from  Paris,  where  she  had  been  studying  art,  heard 
him  and  could  not  refrain  from  leaving  the  box  in  which  she 
sat  and  going  to  the  Penitent-Form.  She  went  home  truly 
converted. 

"  The  wave  of  power  and  conviction  did  not  cease  when  The 
General  left;  and  during  the  next  four  days  we  saw  fifty-eight 
persons  at  the  Penitent-Form." 


The  special  value  of  all  these  American  testimonies  to 
the  effect  of  The  General's  brief  visits,  lies  in  the  fact  that 
they  show  the  triumph  of  the  War  plan  of  God,  just  in  the 
circumstances  where  weaklings  are  tempted  to  yield  to  pub- 
lic opinion,  substitute  orations  for  real  fighting  for  souls, 
and  to  press  nobody  to  an  immediate  decision,  or  change  of 
heart  and  life. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  The  Army's  invariable  fight 
against  the  drink  has  helped  to  make  its  General  so  highly 
honoured  amongst  American  statesmen.  But  in  that,  as 
In  everything  else,  the  important  fact  to  note  is  that  it  was 


THE  ARMY  IN  AMERICA  103 

by  establishing  an  absolute  authority  that  he  se- 
cured the  faithful  carrying  on  of  the  campaign  against 
drink  and  every  other  evil  at  every  spot  where  our  Flag 
flies. 

The  eyes  of  the  whole  world  have,  in  our  day,  been  more 
or  less  opened  to  the  ruinous  character  of  the  drink  traffic, 
and  The  General  and  his  forces,  whilst  keeping  out  of  the 
political  arena,  have  mightily  helped  the  agitations  that 
have  ended  in  the  exclusion  of  the  drink  traffic  altogether 
from  many  states  and  cities,  and  its  limitation,  in  many 
ways. 

But  much  less  notice  has  been  taken  of  other  evils,  which 
have  no  less  absorbed  the  attention,  and  spoiled  the  means, 
the  minds,  and  the  souls  of  the  masses.  The  sight  daily  in 
every  great  English-reading  city  when  the  sporting  editions 
of  the  newspapers  appear,  ought  indeed  to  arouse  every 
follower  of  Christ.  But  the  habit  of  irresponsibility  that 
has  grown  up  in  most  "  Christian  "  circles  has  still  to  be 
fought  against  everywhe/e.  and  The  General's  persistent 
testimony  against  it,  indeed  the  whole  theory  of  a  Divine 
Army  and  of  War,  must  remain  for  ever  one  of  the  strong- 
est features  of  his  life's  work.     The  old  song: — 

Arm  me  with  jealous  care, 

As  in  Thy  sight  to  live; 
And,  Oh,  Thy  servant,  Lord,  prepare 

A  strict  account  to  give, 

has  expressed  the  thought  behind  all  the  arrangements  of 
our  Army.  And  it  is  remarkable  how,  in  the  midst  of  the 
general  indifference,  so  large  a  measure  of  this  *'  jealous 
care"  for  God  and  souls  has  been  awakened  and  main- 
tained. 

Nowhere,  alas!  does  the  theory  of  irresponsibility  find 
a  more  congenial  soil  than  in  the  very  places  and  services 
where  God  is  most  feared,  honoured,  and  obeyed.  His 
doors  are  indeed  opened  to  the  world;  but  whether  any- 
body enters  them  or  no  is  the  care  of  but  sadly  too  few. 
Hymns  are  so  announced  as  to  make  it  easy  for  all  to  join 


104  GENERAL.  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

in  singing  them,  if  they  choose.  But  whether  the  words 
are  sung  by  many,  or  only  by  a  proficient  few,  and  above 
all,  whether  hearts  as  well  as  voices  are  raised  in  prayer 
and  praise  to  God,  is  too  often  a  matter  of  absolute  indif- 
ference to  almost  every  one. 

How  The  General  altered  all  that,  wherever  his  influ- 
ence was  felt!  He  made  all  his  people  understand  that 
not  merely  are  they  responsible  for  understanding  and  heed- 
ing God's  commands  themselves,  but  for  enforcing  attention 
to  them,  as  those  who  must  give  account  of  their  success  or 
failure. 

The  sister  leader  of  some  little  Meeting  in  the  far-away 
Outpost  of  a  Corps,  thousands  of  miles  from  the  centre, 
when  she  insists  upon  having  a  verse  sung  for  the  third 
time  because  "  I'm  sure  some  of  you  lads  were  not  half 
singing,''  has  little  idea  of  the  religious  revolution  she  rep- 
resents. That  the  dislike  of  so  many  for  any  "  such  inno- 
vations "  continues,  may  help  to  convince  any  one  who 
thinks  of  the  urgent  need  the^e  was,  and  is  still,  for  the 
substitution  of  responsible  for  irresponsible  leadership  in 
"  Divine  Service." 

During  his  visit  to  the  United  States  in  1907  The  Gen- 
eral had  a  severe  illness  which  seriously  threatened  to  cut 
short  his  career.  His  death  was  indeed  cabled  as  an  item 
of  news  from  Chicago.  But  the  report  was,  as  Mark 
Twain  would  have  said,  "  grossly  exaggerated."  Nobody 
will  wonder,  however,  at  his  having  been  ill  when  they 
read  Commissioner  Lawley's  report.     He  writes: — 

"We  have  calculated  that  in  the  thirteen  meetings  of  his 
New  York  Campaign  the  General  was  on  his  feet  speaking 
about  twenty-six  and  three-quarters  hours. 

"  He  spent  less  than  six  weeks  in  the  Country,  travelled  about 
3,700  miles  by  train,  spoke  about  eighty-five  hours  to  fifty 
audiences,  before  conferring  many  hours  with  leading  Officers, 
and  talking  to  the  Newspaper  Reporters  in  each  town  he  vis- 
ited." 

An  Officer  describing  his  illness  wrote: — 


^ 


THE  ARMY  IN  M^IERICA  105 

"  I  never  shall  forget  his  effort  to  ascend  the  staircase  of  the 
Commissioner's  house  on  Friday  morning  after  his  victory  at 
Milwaukee  the  night  before.  The  veteran  Warrior  had  to  rest 
his  head  and  hands  on  the  rail  and  pray  *  My  Lord.'  It  was 
clear  to  me  that  the  chill  he  had  sustained  days  before,  and 
which  he  fought  in  vain  against  would  make  him  a  prisoner 
for  days." 

What  that  meant  to  him  when  he  was  already  announced 
for  a  number  of  other  cities  can  be  imagined. 

His  symptoms  the  following  day  were  very  serious,  and 
one  cannot  but  be  glad  that  he  had  at  his  side  at  the  time 
his  daughter — Commander  Eva  Booth.  Under  her  lov- 
ing care,  and  with  all  the  help  of  Doctors  and  Masters 
that  could  be  got  in  Chicago,  The  General  recovered  so  as 
to  be  able  to  go  on  after  a  few  days  with  his  interrupted 
tour,  after  which  he  wrote  in  his  farewell  letter  to  his 
American  Troops: — 

"I  have  been  impressed  with  the  great  improvement  in  the 
devotion,  spirituality  and  Blood  and  Fire  character  of  the  forces 
already  in  existence.  I  have  also  most  pleasantly  gratified 
by  a  conviction  of  the  possibility  of  raising  a  force  in  the 
•United  States  that  shall  not  only  be  equal  to  the  demand  made 
upon  it  by  the  conditions  of  the  country  but  of  supplying  me 
with  powerful  reinforcements  of  men  and  money  for  the  mighty 
task  of  bringing  the  whole  world  to  the  feet  of  Jesus." 

During  this  visit,  The  General  and  the  Commander  were 
received  by  President  Roosevelt  at  the  White  House.  The 
General  was  presented  with  the  freedom  of  the  City  of 
Philadelphia,  and  after  going  through  the  gigantic  final 
week  described  alone  in  New  York  was  able  to  sail  direct 
to  Germany  for  his  usual  great  Repentance  Day  in  Berlin, 
and  he  was  already  seventy-eight  years  old. 

Need  it  be  said  that  whilst  in  this  book  little  mention  is 
made  of  any  one  but  The  General  himself,  it  not  having 
been  his  habit  in  his  journals  to  refer  to  those  with  whom 
he  was  for  the  time  associating,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that 
at  any  rate  in  recent  years  he  was  anywhere  fighting  alone. 


106  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

In  Heaven  no  doubt  the  victory  won  in  many  a  crowded 
building  was  put  down  to  the  credit  of  someone  whom  few 
if  any  of  those  occupying  the  front  of  the  platform  would 
have  mentioned;  but  as  a  result  of  whose  prayers,  faith 
and  effort  the  audience  was  gathered  or  the  results  attained. 

It  would  have  been  very  unfair  to  the  great  majority  of 
his  Officers  to  have  called  frequent  or  special  attention  to 
the  small  English  Staff  who  usually  accompanied  him,  for 
not  only  the  Commissioners  and  Chief  Secretaries  but  the 
Officers  of  every  nationality  laboured  systematically  to  make 
the  most  of  his  visits  to  any  particular  place  and  to  ren- 
der to  the  largest  possible  extent  the  results  of  each  visit 
permanent. 

This  may  possibly  seem  specially  and  curiously  unfair 
in  the  United  States  and  Denmark,  yet  it  will  only  make 
in  the  United  States  and  Denmark  yet  it  will  only  make 
the  principle  of  this  omission  from  The  General's  own 
records  and  ours  the  more  clear. 

It  will  doubtless  be  expected  that  I  make  some  comment 
upon  the  painful  separation  from  him  of  three  of  his  own 
children  which  were  amongst  the  saddest  events  of  The 
General's  life,  and,  yet,  I  feel  it  best  to  say  nothing. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  book  to  tell  "  all  about 
it,"  and  telling  part  could  only  cause  misunderstanding. 
So  I  leave  it,  and  hope  everyone  else  will  do  the  same. 


Chapter  XII 

IN  AUSTRALASIA 

The  entire  programme  of  every  tour  The  General  made 
emphasises  so  strongly  his  advocacy  of  hard  work  that  one 
really  hesitates  to  pick  out  any  one  Campaign  as  more  re- 
markable than  another.  What  is,  however,  extraordinary 
in  connexion  with  one  of  his  far-away  Australian  journeys 
is  our  having  letters  which  so  much  more  than  any  others 
give  particulars  of  his  doings. 

"I  am  resting  to-night,  and  well  I  think  my  poor  body  has 
earned  some  kind  of  respite.  Such  a  ten  days'  work  I  never 
did  before  of  sheer  hard  work.  How  I  have  come  through 
it,  and  come  through  so  well,  I  cannot  understand,  except  that 
God  has  indeed  been  my  Helper." 

Here  is  another  side-light  on  The  General's  own  inner 
life  which  we  get  by  the  way.  We  conceal,  of  course,  the 
identity  of  the  lady  in  question,  except  to  say  that  it  was 
a  very  distinguished  hostess  with  whom  he  had  occasion  to 
spend  some  hours  when  travelling. 

"  It  was  perhaps  the  loveliest  journey  I  ever  had.  I  talked 
nearly  all  the  time,  and,  in  fact,  had  no  alternative.  But  I 
think  I  ought  to  have  made  a  more  desperate  and  definite 
attack  on  her  soul  than  I  did.  She  is  a  very  intelligent  and 
amiable  lady,  and  I  have  no  doubt  I  made  an  impression. 

"  Good-bye.  Go  on  praying  and  believing  for  me.  I  want 
to  be  a  flame  of  fire  wherever  I  go.  I  thank  God  for  the 
measure  of  love  and  power  I  have.  But  I  must  have  more. 
I  am  pushing  everybody  around  me  up  to  this — the  inward 
burning  love  and  zeal  and  purity.  I  wish  our  best  men  were 
more  spiritual.     Give  my  tenderest  love  to  all." 

In  each  of  The  General's  visits  to  Australia  there  was 

107 


108  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

much  of  the  same  character;  but  from  the  letters  to  his 
children  which  he  wrote  on  one  of  them,  we  can  extract 
enough  to  give  some  idea  of  what  he  saw  and  felt  in  pass- 
ing through  those  vast  regions : — 

"What  the  reception  (at  Melbourne)  would  have  been  had 
it  not  been  for  the  torrents  of  rain  I  cannot  imagine.  Al- 
though it  was  known  that  I  could  not  get  in  before  six  or 
seven  o'clock,  there  was  a  great  mass  of  several  thousand 
people  waiting  at  three  o'clock.  As  it  was  we  did  not  get  into 
the  Exhibition  Building  till  ten,  and  a  vast  crowd  had  been 
sitting  inside  from  five,  and  stayed  to  hear  me  talk  till  10:45. 

"I  had  an  immense  Meeting — they  say  5,000  were  present 
on  the  Sunday  morning,  7,000  in  the  afternoon,  with  as  many 
more  turned  away. 

"  The  opportunity  here  is  immense  beyond  conception.  The 
people  are  delightful,  and  the  Officers  also.  If  they  were  my 
own  sons  and  daughters,  I  don't  see  how  either  Officers  or 
Soldiers  could  have  been  much  more  affectionate." 

How  great  was  the  strain  of  the  Meetings  may  be  guessed 
from  the  following  remarks  as  to  the  final  one : — 

"  I  trembled  as  I  rose.  You  must  understand  that  the  Hall 
down  which  I  spoke  is  about  400  to  450  feet  long,  and  that  on 
this  occasion  a  partition  about  ten  feet  high  was  drawn  across 
it,  some  300  feet  from  the  spot  on  which  I  stood,  so  that  my 
voice  had  to  travel  all  through  the  entire  length  of  the  build- 
ing before  it  met  with  any  obstruction,  whilst  behind  me  there 
was  at  least  another  seventy  feet.  The  Press  estimate  the 
crowds  at  10,000;  but,  that  is  an  exaggeration.  There  would 
be  7,000,  at  least.  I  had  taken  the  precaution  to  send  an 
Officer  to  the  far  end  to  see  how  far  he  could  or  could  not 
hear  me,  and  he  brought  back  word  *  excellently.'  So  I  drove 
ahead,  speaking  over  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  not  losing  the 
attention  of  my  audience  for  a  moment.  Indeed,  I  felt  I  had 
the  whole  house  from  the  moment  I  opened  my  lips.  Of  course, 
it  was  the  greatest  physical  effort  a  long  way  that  I  ever  made, 
and,  considering  that  it  was  my  seventh  address  in  that  *  dread- 
ful* building,  and  that  I  commenced  with  a  bad  throat,  ex- 
hausted with  the  fatigues  and  miseries  of  the  voyage,  and  that 


IN  AUSTRALASIA  109 

I  had  ceaselessly  worked  at  smaller  Meetings,  etc.,  all  the  four 
days,  I  do  think  it  very  wonderful  how  I  went  through  it,  and 
I  must  attribute  it  to  the  direct  holding  up  and  strengthening 
of  the  dear  Lord  Himself. 

"  On  all  hands  I  think  a  deep  impression  was  made.  To 
God  be  the  glory,  and  to  my  poor  constituents,  for  whom  I 
live  and  plead,  be  the  benefit. 

'*  I  am  tired  this  morning,  but  shall  get  a  little  rest  to-day 
and  a  little  extra  sleep  in  the  train.  We  leave  for  Bendigo  at 
twelve  o'clock,  arriving  at  four  for  Meeting  to-morrow.  We 
go  to  Geelong  next  day,  coming  back  here  on  Friday  morning, 
and  leaving  at  five  for  Sydney,  travelling  all  night,  and  arriv- 
ing there  about  noon  on  Saturday. 

"You  will  get  tired  of  hearing  of  this  round  of  Meetings, 
and  of  the  very  echo  of  this  enthusiasm;  but  you  will,  I  am 
sure,  rejoice,  not  merely  that  the  people  of  this  new  world 
have  welcomed  your  father  and  General  with  such  heartiness, 
but  that  there  is  for  The  Army  such  an  open  door  in  these 
parts.'* 

That  is  indeed  what  lends  such  endless  importance  to 
the  recital  which  we  cannot  help  reporting  ever  and  anon 
of  The  General's  Meetings  in  each  country  to  which  he 
went.  It  was  not  the  mere  coming  together  of  crowds  to 
listen  to  a  speaker,  but  the  enthusiastic  acceptance  and 
endorsement  of  a  system,  and  of  demands  made  by  a  per- 
fect stranger  in  which  he  so  delighted.  The  General  never 
went  anywhere  merely  to  preach  or  lecture.  All  that  he 
did  in  that  way  was  always  so  combined  with  Salvation 
Campaigns  that  at  every  step  he  was  really  recruiting  for 
The  Army.  Hence  his  every  movement,  the  reports  of  his 
journeys,  the  conversations  he  held  with  all  whom  he  met, 
everything  told  in  the  one  great  War  and  helped  to  create, 
more  and  more  all  over  the  world,  this  force  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  pledged  to  devote  themselves  to  the 
service  of  Christ  and  of  mankind. 

There  is  a  very  interesting  account  of  a  visit  to  a  State 
School,  especially  as  it  shows  The  General's  keenness  to 
learn,  for  The  Army,  anything  possible : — - 

"  At  ten  o'clock  I  went  by  the  request  of  Mrs.  McLean,  the 


110  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

lady  with  whom  I  am  staying,  to  visit  one  of  her  State  Schools. 
I  was  met  at  the  door  by  the  managers  and  members  of  the 
board,  who  conducted  me  through  the  building. 

"  There  were  over  i,ooo  children  in  ten  different  class- 
rooms. I  was  much  interested  in  them,  and  spoke  in  each 
room,  so  that  I  began  the  day  with  at  least  ten  little  sermons. 

"  I  was  very  much  struck  with  the  singing  of  the  children, 
rendered  very  effective  with  some  corresponding  action  with 
the  arms  and  feet,  which  gave  life  and  vigour  to  the  thing. 
I  am  satisfied  that  we  might  follow  this  plan  out  with  very 
good  effect  in  our  Army  singing.  The  little  that  is  done  is 
always  appreciated." 

And  so  whilst  the  Secular  Australian  Schools  got  some 
little  gleam  of  the  heavenly  light,  the  aged  General  saw  and 
passed  on  to  all  his  world,  a  valuable  suggestion  that  has 
since  been  taken  up  and  acted  upon  everywhere  in  our 
Children's  Meetings  and  demonstrations. 

And  then  he  passes  at  once  to  quite  another  department 
of  his  activities.  He  always  exercised  the  same  care  in 
every  country,  which  we  have  already  described  as  to  Eng- 
land to  ensure  the  careful  settlement  of  all  property  ac- 
quired for  The  Army,  so  that  it  may  be,  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible, made  certain  that  nothing  given  to  the  one  Army 
should  ever  be  removed  out  of  the  control  of  its  central 
authority.  How  much  of  time  and  care  this  has  demanded 
will  be  readily  understood  by  those  who  have  any  experi- 
ence in  property  matters,  and  who  know  how  widely  laws 
and  legal  usages  differ  in  different  countries : — 

"I  had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Maddocks,  our  solicitor  out 
here — a  very  nice  fellow  indeed,  and  I  should  think  capable 
withal.  He  seems  to  grasp  the  idea  of  The  Army  govern- 
ment, and  to  be  anxious  to  co-operate  with  us  in  such  a  settle- 
ment of  our  property  as  will  be  in  harmony  with  it." 

Only  by  means  of  many  such  interviews,  and  all  the  care 
they  represent,  was  it  possible,  under  the  laws  of  such  thor- 
oughly democratic  States,  to  leave  the  local  holders  of 
authority  under  The  General's  complete  freedom  of  ag- 


IN  AUSTRALASIA  111 

gressive  action,  and  yet  to  secure  that  everything  they 
acquired  with  The  Army's  funds  should  remain  for  all 
time  at  the  disposal,  for  The  Army  only,  of  a  General  with 
his  office  at  the  other  side  of  the  world. 

And  then  we  go  on  to  the  journey  during  which  he  was 
hoping  "  to  get  some  extra  sleep  " ! 

"At  twelve,  left  for  Bendigo,  arriving  about  four  o'clock. 
Was  very  weary  on  the  journey,  and  had  to  turn  out  two  or 
three  times  to  address  the  crowds  waiting  to  listen  to  me  on 
station   platforms. 

"  Bendigo  is  a  town  of  some  30,000  people,  entirely  made 
and  sustained  by  the  gold-digging  industry.  An  immense 
amount  of  the  precious  metal  has  been  taken  here,  and  suffi- 
cient is  being  secured  still  to  make  it  a  paying  concern,  al- 
though the  miners  have  to  go  to  a  considerable  depth  in  order 
to  secure  the  quartz. 

"  We  had  a  public  reception,  and  they  had  made  a  general 
holiday  of  it  in  the  place.  People  must  have  come  in  from 
miles  around  to  help  make  up  such  a  crowd.  They  pulled  up 
at  a  splendid  fountain  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  intending  to 
separate  with  three  cheers  for  The  General;  but  I  could  not 
withstand  the  temptation,  and  made  quite  a  little  sermon  about 
saving  their  souls,  and  serving  God." 

It  is  this  interest  both  in  the  everyday  occupations  and 
resources  of  the  people,  and  of  the  tours  they  made  which, 
joined  with  all  his  intense  concern  about  the  soul,  consti- 
tuted The  General  and  all  who  truly  follow  him,  the  true 
brethren  of  all  mankind.  It  must  ever  be  remembered,  to 
the  credit  of  Australia,  that  its  leading  men  were  the  first 
to  recognise  this  characteristic  of  our  Officers,  and  to  lend 
them  all  the  influence  of  their  public  as  well  as  private 
countenance  and  sympathy.  It  is  this  fact  which  makes 
it  a  permanent  pleasure  to  record  their  kindnesses  to  The 
General. 

"  Came  on  to  Melbourne,  on  my  way  to  Sydney.  Met  a 
body  of  representative  men  to  lunch,  amongst  them  Sir  James 
McBain,   President  of  the  Upper   Chamber,   Mr.   Deakin,   an 


112  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

ex-Cabinet  Minister,  a  very  nice  fellow  indeed,  a  man  who 
appears  to  me  to  have  more  capacity  than  any  one  I  have  yet 
met  in  the  Colonies.  He  made  a  speech,  and  at  the  close 
drew  me  on  one  side,  and  said  he  wanted  to  do  something  for 
us,  and  if  I  could  only  tell  him  what  it  should  be  on  my  return 
to  Melbourne,  he  would  be  very  glad  to  do  it. 

"I  am  sure  he  is  prepared  to  be  a  good  friend.    He  is  a 
coming  Prime  Minister,  I  should  think.'* 

(The  General  had  no  idea  then  that  all  Australasia  would, 
so  soon,  be  united  into  one  Commonwealth,  much  less  that 
Mr.  Deakin  would,  for  so  many  of  the  next  ten  years,  be 
Premier  of  the  whole.) 

But  a  remark  he  once  made  respecting  the  reported  scep- 
ticism of  some  highly-placed  Colonials  might  be  made  with 
regard,  alas !  to  many  "  statesmen  '*  of  Christian  lands 
nowadays,  and  we  cannot  but  see  in  that  fact,  and  in  the 
friendliness  of  so  many  such  persons  with  us,  a  token  of 
the  meaning  both  of  the  scepticism,  and  The  Army's  posi- 
tion. In  how  many  instances  have  men,  moving  in  influ- 
ential circles,  met  with  a  Christianity  manifestly  formal 
and  carrying  with  it  no  impress  of  reality!  How  natural 
for  them  to  sink  into  scepticism!  But  the  moment  they 
encounter  men  who  convince  them  instantly  that  they  be- 
lieve the  Bible  they  carry,  scepticism  retires  in  favour  of 
joyous  surprise,  and  without  any  desire  to  discuss  doctrines, 
they  become  our  lifelong  friends. 

The  General's  ability  in  securing  the  assistance  of  all 
sorts  of  men,  including  those  whose  religious  opinions 
widely  differed  from  his  own,  or  who  had  got  none  at  all, 
was  remarkable.  When  reproached,  as  he  was  sometimes, 
for  taking  the  money  even  of  sporting  men,  he  would  al- 
ways say  that  he  only  regretted  that  he  had  not  got  a  larger 
amount,  and  that  he  reckoned  the  tears  of  the  poor  crea- 
tures that  would  be  relieved  would  wash  the  money  clean 
enough  in  the  sight  of  God  for  it  to  be  acceptable  in  His 
sight. 

"Met  Mr.  .    He  is  interested  in  our  Maternity  work, 

and  promised  some  time  back  to  assist  us  with  the  Hospital 


IN  AUSTRALASIA  113 

we  are  proposing  to  erect.  He  is  a  multi-millionaire.  He 
promised  £2,500  right  away — £1,500  when  the  sum  of  £23,500 
had  been  raised,  making  thereby  a  total  of  £25,000  with  which 
building  operations  could  be  commenced. 

"  He  is  a  young  man ;  sprightly  and  generous,  I  should 
think.  I  wanted  him  to  make  his  promise  £5,000  in  round 
figures.   But  he  simply  said,  *  I  cannot  promise/   We  shall  see !  " 

The  following  description  of  one  Australian  night  ride 
may  give  some  idea  both  of  the  eagerness  of  the  people  to 
hear  him,  and  of  the  amount  of  fatigue  The  General  was 
able  to  endure: — 

"We  left  at  5  p.  m.  The  journey  was  certainly  unique  in 
my  history.  Six  or  seven  times  in  that  night,  or  early  morn- 
ing, was  I  fetched  out  of  my  carriage  to  deliver  addresses. 
The  Mayors  of  two  of  the  towns  were  there  to  receive  me, 
with  crowds  all  placed  in  orderly  fashion,  with  torches  burning, 
everything  quiet  as  death  while  I  spoke,  and  finishing  up  only 
with  the  ringing  of  the  departing  bell  of  the  train  and  the 
hurrahs  of  the  people. 

"  At  two  in  the  morning,  at  Wagga-Wagga,  of  Tichborne 
fame,  they  fairly  bombarded  my  carriage  shouting,  *  General 
Booth,  won't  you  speak  to  us?  Won't  you  come  out?'  But 
I  thought  you  could  really  have  too  much  of  a  good  thing. 

"  At  another  station,  after  speaking  for  the  twenty  minutes 
allowed  for  breakfast,  a  lady  put  through  the  window  a  really 
superb  English  breakfast,  as  good  as  ever  I  had  in  my  life, 
with  everything  necessary  for  eating  it,  and  as  we  went  off 
she  added,  *Mind,  I  am  a  Roman  Catholic' 

"The  reception  at  Sydney  was  enormous,  they  say  never 
surpassed,  and  only  equalled  once  at  the  burial  of  some  cele- 
brated oarsman  who  died  on  the  way  from  England.  They 
had  arranged  a  great  reception  for  him,  and  they  gave  it  to 
his  corpse.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  Meetings  is  Melbourne 
over  again." 

The  General's  almost  invariable  escape  from  illness  dur- 
ing so  many  years  of  travelling,  in  so  many  varying  climates 
and  seasons,  can  only  be  attributed  to  God's  special 
guidance  and  care.  In  Melbourne,  influenza  raged  in  the 
home  where  he  was  billetted,  and  seized  upon  one  of  the 


lU  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

Officers  travelling  with  him.  And  yet  he  escaped,  and 
could  resume  his  journey  undelayed.  In  South  Africa, 
when  he  was  seventy-nine,  another  of  his  companions  in 
travel  was  separated  from  him  for  days  by  severe  illness; 
but  The  General,  in  spite  of  a  milder  attack  of  the  same 
sort,  was  able  to  fulfil  every  appointment  made  for  him. 

Best  of  all,  however,  was  the  peculiarly  blessed  inward 
experience  which  he  enjoyed  amidst  all  the  outward  rush 
of  the  Australian  tour.  It  has  been  so  often  suggested  by 
truly  excellent  men  that  the  soul  cannot  enjoy  all  the  ful- 
ness of  fellowship  with  God  without  a  great  deal  of  retire- 
ment from  men,  that  we  should  like  to  have  The  General's 
inner  life  fairly  exhibited,  if  it  were  only  in  order  for  ever 
to  bury  this  monstrous  and,  we  might  also  say  blasphemous, 
superstition,  which  has  so  often  been  supported  by  one  or 
two  quotations  from  the  Gospel,  though  in  defiance  of  the 
whole  story  of  Christ,  and  of  every  promise  He  ever  made. 

Of  what  value  could  a  Saviour  be  who  drew  back  from 
helping  His  own  messengers  upon  the  ridiculous  pretence 
that  they  were  too  busy  doing  His  bidding,  and  did  not 
spend  enough  time  "  seeking  Him  for  themselves  "  ? 

"Just  a  P.S.  to  say  that  God  is  wonderfully  with  me.  I 
don't  think  that  I  ever  in  the  midst  of  a  great  Revival  had 
a  more  powerful  time  than  last  night.  It  was  nothing  short 
of  a  miracle.  I  had  no  definite  line  ready,  and  had  no  time 
to  get  one.  I  preached  an  old  sermon  at  Melbourne,  just  be- 
cause I  must  have  something  straight  before  me  that  I  could 
shout  out  to  that  immense  crowd,  and  I  had  a  wonderful  time; 
but  last  night  God  helped  me  in  every  way.  The  power  upon 
the  people  was  really  wonderful  at  times." 

Little  did  most  of  his  own  Soldiers  guess  the  extreme 
strain  of  inward  weight  and  struggle  under  which  The 
General  was  often  labouring  just  when  in  some  great  as- 
sembly he  appeared  to  every  one  to  be  overflowing  with 
youthful  gaiety  and  self-confidence. 

The  following  letter  to  his  youngest  daughter,  and  some 
entries  in  his  diary,  will  give  some  idea  of  the  inner  victory 
he  really  gained  on  many  such  occasions. 


IN  AUSTRALASIA  115 

Commissioner  Lawley,  mentioned  in  this  letter,  was  The 
General's  almost  constant  companion  and  helper  in  many 
years'  travel  in  many  lands,  leading  the  singing,  soloing, 
managing  the  Prayer  Meetings,  and  generally  aiding  in 
every  arrangement,  a  true  armour-bearer  and  comrade  at 
every  turn : — 

"Fair  night;  might  have  been  better.  Plenty  of  weakness; 
still,  better  than  it  often  is. 

"Lawley  just  been  in;  he  is  not  over  well;  says  we  have 
got  the  biggest  theatre  (The  Empire).  He  is  not  quite  sure 
whether  its  suitability  for  talking  is  beyond  the  Coliseum  at 
Glasgow,  but  he  thinks  the  Meetings  are  rather  heavy  for  a 
sick  man,  whom  four  doctors  have  been  conjuring  during  the 
week  to  *  settle  down '  and  take  things  quietly,  under  pain  and 
penalties  of  the  sufferings  described. 

"However,  I  am  going  on  with  faith  that  God  won't  for- 
sake me.  It  is  very  probable  that  Mr.  MacDougal  said  some- 
thing of  the  same  kind  when  he  retired  to  rest  on  his  last 
sleep,  and  failing  to  appear  in  the  morning  was  found  by  his 
son  with  life  extinct,  gone  to  live  by  sight;  anyway,  to  have 
some  further  assistance  to  sight  through  his  faith  in  the  Bet- 
ter Land. 

""This  has  been  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  many 
remarkable  days  of  my  history. 

"  I  passed  a  weary  night,  and  felt  altogether  unfit  for  the 
task  before  me.  The  natural  force  seemed  to  have  passed 
out  of  me,  both  mentally  and  physically.  In  fact,  my  heart 
failed  me,  and  there  seemed  nothing  before  me  but  the  pros- 
pect of  slackening  down.  I  was  only  kept  going  by  the  mem- 
ory of  so  many  deliverances  brought  out  for  me  in  the  past. 

"  We  had  one  of  the  largest  audiences,  and  the  biggest  crowd 
I  ever  addressed  in  a  single  day.  In  the  morning  it  appeared 
that  Satan  sat  at  my  door,  suggesting  all  sorts  of  discouraging 
things.  He  tried  to  make  me  believe  that  my  public  work  was 
done,  and  especially  suggesting  that  I  should  renounce  the 
subject  on  which  I  was  talking,  and  wait  for  better  days  be- 
fore I  attempted  to  talk  again.  The  Prayer  Meeting  that  fol- 
lowed was  certainly  encouraging.  We  had  twenty-seven  out. 
Still,  I  came  away  with  very  much  the  same  feeling  that  had 
been  aroused  while  I  was  talking.  I  took  a  little  refreshment, 
and  tried  to  get  a  little  sleep,  but  my  mind  was  too  much  agi- 


116  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

tated  to  allow  of  it.  I  woke  up  and  called  for  the  notes  of 
my  lecture.  My  mind  could  not  put  two  and  two  together 
hardly,  and  so  I  gave  up  in  despair  and  left  myself  to  my 
fate.  On  my  way  to  the  Meeting,  however,  a  strange  feeling 
came  over  me.  It  was  like  the  sun  through  a  rift  in  the  black 
clouds,  and  all  at  once  a  spirit  of  tenderness,  hope,  and  faith 
came  over  me.  A  voice  in  my  soul  seemed  to  say,  *  Go  and  do 
the  Lord's  work,  and  the  people  will  gather;  go  for  their 
souls,  and  all  will  be  well.''  I  accepted  the  command,  my  fears 
vanished,  a  spirit  of  confidence  took  possession  of  me,  I  rose, 
I  addressed  the  crowd  for  an  hour  and  twenty  minutes  with  all 
the  physical  vigour  and  mental  liberty  I  could  desire. 

"  Night.  A  terrific  crowd.  I  talked  for  an  hour  and  ten 
minutes  with  the  same  force  and  fervour  as  in  my  most  suc- 
cessful efforts;  147  came  on  to  the  stage  in  the  After  Meet- 
ing." 

It  was  thus  in  the  smaller  matters  of  personal  strength 
and  health,  as  in  the  greatest  affairs,  that  The  General 
struggled,  believed,  and  triumphed  all  through  his  career. 

Australasia  has  gone  farther  than  most  countries  to- 
wards State  socialism.  But  it  was  well  remarked  by  some 
statesman  many  years  ago,  "  We  are  all  socialists  now." 

No  man  within  his  times  was  more  intensely  devoted  to 
the  cause  of  the  poor  than  William  Booth.  He  was  indif- 
ferent to  no  practical  scheme  or  effort  for  the  improvement 
of  the  people's  condition  in  any  land.  But  for  that  very 
reason  he  loathed,  with  uncommon  vigour,  such  socialism 
as  would  spurn  and  crush  out  of  the  world  the  man  who 
is  no  longer  in  first-class  physical  condition  or  desirous  of 
earning  an  honest  living  by  hard  work,  instead  of  going 
about  to  create  hatred  between  man  and  man,  and  would 
prevent  those  who  will  not  submit  to  any  man's  dictation 
from  leaving  their  families  to  starve  when  work  is  to  be 
obtained. 

The  General's  indignation  was  specially  aroused  when 
"  socialist "  spouters  tried  to  block  all  his  plans  of  benef- 
icence with  their  foul  misrepresentations.  He  fought 
every  such  attempt  with  the  utmost  determination,  and  by 
the  help  of  God  and  the  more  intelligent  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen,   crushed  every  such  attack  more  completely 


IN  AUSTRALASIA  117 

than  the  public  sometimes  knew,  for  he  resolutely  kept  out 
of  any  political  or  social  agitation  and  went  calmly  on  his 
way,  even  when  his  quietude  led  the  enemy  to  imagine  that 
he  was  yielding.  In  later  years,  when  all  the  pressmen  of 
a  city  came  together  to  meet  him,  the  Social  Democratic 
paper  representative  would,  of  course,  come  with  the  rest. 
On  the  occasion  of  such  an  interview  once  in  Denmark,  he 
writes : — 

"The  Social  Democrat  usually  contents  himself  by  compas- 
sionating the  inadequacy  of  my  efforts  for  dealing  with  the 
miseries  which  they  contemplate,  with  the  remark  that  I  don't 
go  deep  enough,  that  mine  is  a  superficial  operation,  whereas 
they  destroy  poverty  by  dragging  it  up  by  the  roots ! 

"My  notion  is  that  the  principles  upon  which  my  efforts  arej[ 
founded  carry  me  to  the  lowest  roots  of  all,  namely,  the  self-  \^ 
ishness  of  human  nature.  Their  notion  is  that  capital  is  the 
root  of  the  misery.  Destroy  the  capital,  or  rather  I  expect 
they  mean  divide  it  up,  or  let  everybody  have  the  benefits 
that  flow  out  of  its  possession.  My  notion  is  that  the  roots 
of  the  selfishness  are  to  be  found  in  human  nature  itself." 


Chapter  XIII 

WOMEN  AND  SCANDINAVIA 

For  a  number  of  years  it  was  The  Generars  custom  to 
conduct  the  annual  review  of  our  Swedish  troops  at 
Sodertelge,  a  beautiful  seaside  spot,  near  enough  to  Stock- 
holm to  make  it  easily  accessible,  and  yet  far  enough  down 
the  Fjord  to  make  the  journey  thither  a  very  delightful 
excursion. 

The  sight  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  steamers  crowded 
with  Salvationists  making  their  way,  with  streaming  ban- 
ners, music  and  song,  to  the  camp  ground,  was  almost  like 
a  glimpse  of  the  coming  glory  when  the  whole  earth  should 
rejoice  before  the  Lord.  But,  of  course,  there  came  always 
to  that  great  gathering  a  sufficient  number  of  the  uncon- 
verted to  furnish  abundant  opportunity  for  conquests  to 
be  made,  and  the  great  Meetings,  lasting  throughout  the 
day,  never  broke  up  without  the  ingathering  of  many  souls. 

The  Councils  for  Officers  which  followed  during  the 
next  few  days  in  Stockholm  and  elsewhere,  gave  The  Gen- 
eral great  opportunities  to  confirm  and  extend  the  influ- 
ence of  his  teachings  throughout  the  whole  of  these  North- 
ern countries. 

Some  of  The  General's  earlier  visits  to  Sweden  were, 
however,  still  more  interesting,  and  perhaps  even  more 
permanently  effective,  because,  as  we  shall  see,  they  helped 
the  newly-rising  force,  enlisted  under  their  first  leader — a 
devoted  woman — to  gain  some  liberty  for  demonstrations 
and  other  work  outside  their  own  buildings  such  as  they 
had  not  had  before,  and  strengthened  them  in  their  reso- 
lution to  fight,  whilst  almost  all  their  fellow-countrymen 
still  looked  down  upon  them  with  disdain  if  not  with  hatred. 
It  is  difficult  to  realise  now  what  a  dreadful  thing  The 
Army  in  those  days  must  have  appeared.     Huge  crowds 

ii8 


WOMEN  AND  SCANDINAVIA  119 

gathered  from  the  very  first  to  the  Meetings,  convened  in 
theatres  and  other  public  buildings  by  Major,  now  Com- 
missioner Ouchterlony,  a  Swedish  lady  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  The  General  to  inaugurate  the  Work  in  her  own 
land;  but  the  bulk  of  the  population  seemed  to  regard  her 
as  though  she  was  a  suffragette,  advocating  window-break- 
ing or  something  Worse.  This  will  explain  some  of  the 
facts  The  General  records  in  his  diary  of  his  visit  seven 
years  later.  The  journey  began  with  a  great  Meeting  at 
Hull,  after  which  the  traveller  went  on  board  his  steamer 
for  a  miserable  two  days'  voyage  to  Gothenburg.  After 
Meetings  there  he  proceeded  to  Sundsvall,  a  city  from 
.which  point  his  Journal  reads: — 

'*At  the  conclusion  of  the  evening  Meeting  the  dear  Sol- 
diers flocked  to  the  station,  crowding  the  platform  and  ex- 
pressing, as  far  as  opportunity  served  them,  their  love  for  me, 
and  their  desire  that  God  should  bless  me.  I  spoke  to  them 
for  a  few  minutes;  then  came  the  signal  and  the  start,  and 
then  as  we  slowly  moved  off  handkerchiefs  were  waved,  vol- 
leys of  *Amens'  were  fired,  the  Band  played,  and  away  we 
were  borne  out  into  the  darkness.  All  this  was  like  a  dream 
to  my  comrades,  as  neither  the  railway  officials  nor  the  police 
had  hitherto  allowed  a  word  to  be  spoken  or  a  note  of  music 
to  be  played  outside  our  Halls. 

"All  that  night  and  all  the  following  day  we  travelled  to 
Stockholm,  which  we  reached  at  6  p.m.  Crowds  awaited  our 
arrival.  The  Soldiers  had  come  down  in  force,  wearing  sashes 
on  which  the  words,  *  God  bless  The  General,*  *  Welcome,'  and 
other  devices  had  been  worked.  The  police  had  come  too. 
There  were  200  of  them — some  mounted  and  some  on  foot. 
Our  people  had  been  formed  into  an  avenue  down  which  I 
passed  to  an  open  space.  Every  face  wore  a  smile,  but  there 
was  comparative  silence.  The  Police  Master  had  insisted  that 
there  should  be  no  volley  firing  or  shouting.  But  hands  and 
handkerchiefs  were  waved,  and  every  one  appeared  delighted. 
We  were  soon  in  a  carriage,  galloping  off  to  the  Headquarters 
where  we  were  to  stay." 

If  all  that  The  General  has  done  for  the  attainment  of  a 
larger  liberty  by  the  peoples  of  every  land  were  recorded, 


120  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

one  might  easily  make  him  appear  as  a  great  political  re- 
former. But  whilst  consistently  aiming  at  the  one  great 
purpose  of  all  his  journeys  and  Meetings,  the  Salvation  of 
souls,  he  has,  incidentally,  done  more  to  stir  the  humblest 
and  least  capable  to  great  nation-rousing  efforts  than  any 
mere  political  reformer  can  hope  to  do. 

During  this  first  visit  of  twelve  days  to  Sweden,  he 
travelled  by  rail  over  3,000  kilometres  (say  2,000  miles), 
held  twenty-eight  public  Meetings,  besides  a  number  of  pri- 
vate ones  with  press  interviews,  and  wayside  gatherings  at 
railway  stations.  Five  nights  were  spent  in  the  trains, 
mostly  in  crowded  compartments,  for  the  days  of  com- 
fortable "  sleepers  "  on  all  lines  had  not  yet  come.  He  had, 
besides  his  interpreter,  a  young  English  companion,  who 
paid  his  own  expenses,  and  he  could  seldom  be  persuaded 
to  take  any  refreshment  whilst  travelling  that  could  not  be 
got  in  the  carriage.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in  win- 
ning and  retaining  the  enthusiastic  affection  of  such  multi- 
tudes of  persons.  The  General  has  had  to  face  the  difficulty 
of  only  being  able  to  speak  through  an  interpreter,  and  that 
he  has  had  to  endure  campaigns  of  opposition  and  slander, 
of  wJiich  we  can  say  very  little,  but  which,  founded  so 
largely  as  they  have  been  upon  his  being  "a  foreigner,'' 
have  had  so  good  a  chance  to  build  up  walls  of  difficulty 
before  him. 

After  this  tremendous  journey  and  reception,  The  Gen- 
eral continues : — 

"In  the  night  Meeting  I  felt  a  little  nervous.  The  Riding 
'School  was  nearly  full,  another  100  persons  would  have  filled 
every  seat,  although  a  charge  had  been  made  for  admission, 
in  order  to  help  with  the  heavy  expenses. 

"Many  had  stayed  away  for  fear  of  the  crush.  The 
audience,  which  was  most  respectable,  included  the  Police 
Master.  I  was  very  tired,  and  no  particular  topic  had  been 
announced.  However,  I  spoke  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  all 
seemed  intensely  interested. 

"  Sunday. — The  Riding  School  was  full  for  the  morning 
Holiness  Meeting.  Much  power.  About  100  stood  up  to  make 
a  full  surrender  of  themselves  to  God. 


WOMEN  AND  SCANDINAVIA  121 

"In  the  afternoon  the  Hall  was  again  full.  The  police,  of 
whom  there  were  twenty  present,  would  only  allow  persons 
to  stand  in  the  end  aisles.     Spoke  an  hour  or  more. 

"  Night.  Full  an  hour  before  the  time.  Many  convicted. 
About  twelve  pressed  forward. 

"  Monday. — Inspected  new  Hall  and  Training  Home — build- 
ing to  cost  £5,000.  Also  visited  present  Training  Home  and 
attended  to  correspondence. 

"  At  night  the  Riding  School  was  full  long  before  we  arrived. 
Spoke  two  hours.  Immense  impression  seemed  to  be  pro- 
duced. 

"Tuesday. — Morning,  addressed  Officers  and  Cadets.  One 
o'clock,  Meeting  of  Clergy  and  Evangelistic  workers,  at  which 
300  were  present.  Spoke  an  hour,  and  answered  questions  for 
an  hour.  Was  enabled,  I  think,  to  answer  all  objections,  put- 
ting every  one  to  silence. 

"  Dined  with  Lieutenant  Lagercrantz  of  the  King's  army. 
He  is  a  dear  fellow,  and  he  has  a  dear  wife.  They  are  in  deep 
sympathy  with  us.     She  put  on  a  bonnet  and  riband  that  night. 

"  I  was  determined  to  have  a  free  Meeting  for  the  poorest, 
a  charge  for  admission  having  been  made  for  all  the  Meetings 
yet  held  in  Stockholm.  So  called  one  at  6  p.m.  in  our  own 
Hall  in  the  south  of  the  city.  At  six  we  were  quite  full.  I 
spoke  an  hour  or  more,  and  some  twenty  or  more  came  out  for 
a  clean  heart.     Closed  at  8.15  p.m. 

"At  8.30  p.m.  Soldiers'  Meeting.  Some  500  were  present. 
Spoke  for  nearly  two  hours.  At  the  close  cleared  the  front  as 
a  Mercy-Seat,  and  nearly  all  in  the  place — Officers,  Cadets, 
and  Soldiers — ^went  down  in  company  after  company.  The 
wonderful  Meeting  closed  about  midnight. 

"Wednesday. — Rose  at  6  a.m.,  not  having  had  much  sleep. 
Away  to  Norrkoping  at  7.30  a.m.  Arrived  at  2.30  p.m.  Meet- 
ing at  3.30  p.m.  in  a  great  church,  where  800  were  present. 
Good  time.    Very  tired. 

"  Night.  1,500  present.  Talked  two  hours.  Afterwards,  at 
10.30  p.m.,  had  a  Meeting  for  Soldiers.  Got  home  about  11.45 
p.m. 

"Thursday. — Meeting  at  10  a.m.  to  say  'Farewell.'  Spoke 
about  an  hour,  and  left  at  one  o'clock  for  Lynkoping,  arriving 
at  2.30  p.m.  Meeting  in  our  beautiful  Theatre  at  2.30  p.m.. 
Fine  audience." 

Mere  lack  of  space  forbids  further  quotation.     But  surely 


122  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

enough  has  been  said  to  show  with  what  marvellous  exer- 
tion The  General  managed  in  one  brief  journey  to  do  so 
much  for  all  classes,  and  so  much  not  merely  in  the  way 
of  Meetings  but  of  organisation  and  administration  in  every 
way. 

And  the  diary  tells  us  nothing  of  his  talks  with  Officers 
between  Meetings,  which  have  formed  so  important  a  part 
of  all  his  travels.  By  means  of  such  conversations,  espe- 
cially in  the  case  of  Officers  who  are  not  English,  The 
General  has  gained  a  close  knowledge  of  them  and  their 
difficulties  as  they  have  of  his  thoughts  and  wishes. 

Between  his  arrival  at  Gothenburg  and  his  Sundsvall 
Meetings  came  a  rough  journey  to  Norway,  where  we  had 
as  yet  no  Officers,  yet  where,  nevertheless,  a  great  Meet- 
ing had  been  arranged  for  by  friends,  who  later  helped  in 
the  establishment  of  our  work  in  their  country !  The  Gen- 
eral passed  on  to  Denmark,  where  our  work  was  in  its 
first  year. 

On  the  afternoon  of  his  arrival  he  tells  us  he  rested, 
wrote  up  correspondence  and  journal,  and  had  some  Httle 
thought  about  the  coming  Meetings. 

"Night.  Welcome  Meeting  in  the  Methodist  Church. 
Packed.  There  must  have  been  nearly  1,300  people  present. 
The  admission  was  free,  and  there  were  many  Philistines,  some 
socialists,  and  some  lads  bent  on  mischief.  To  add  to  our 
difficulties,  my  interpreter  did  his  work  so  miserably  that  we 
had  some  confusion  and  restlessness.  After  an  hour's  talk,  I 
paused  for  the  collection  to  be  taken,  and  changed  interpreters. 
The  second  one  did  very  much  better.  His  voice,  however, 
was  feeble  and  his  manner  very  quiet,  so  that  things  were  not 
very  much  better  for  a  time.  Then  we  had  a  little  quiet,  and 
a  decent  finish.  It  was  a  considerable  disappointment,  however, 
and  next  door  to  a  defeat.  I  retired  to  rest  very  sad,  and  with 
awkward  forebodings  about  the  coming  Meetings. 

"The  great  funereal  vault  of  a  church,  the  interpreting,  the 
mocking  young  fellows  void  of  any  sense  of  honour  or  con- 
science to  appeal  to,  or  any  respect  for  a  stranger,  the  intense 
anxiety  of  the  Officer  in  command  to  have  good  Meetings,  and 
above  all  my  longings  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  hungry  crowd, 
only  wanting  to  hear,  and  many  of  them  equally  willing  to  obey : 


WOMEN  AND  SCANDINAVIA  123 

these  and  other  troubling  thoughts  haunted  my  mind  and 
spoiled  my  night's  sleep.  But  I  fell  back  on  my  old  remedy, 
and,  comforting  myself  in  the  Lord,  resolved  to  do  what  could 
be  done  and  left  myself  in  His  hands. 

"Sunday. — ii  'a.m.  Had  a  local  minister  to  translate;  he 
did  well.  Some  fifty  or  sixty  stood  up  at  the  close  as  seekers 
for  a  clean  heart. 

"  Afternoon.  The  great  church  packed.  Interpretation  went 
fairly  well.     Began  at  3  p.m.  and  went  on  till  5.20  p.m. 

"  Night.  Police  sent  up  word  soon  after  six  that  the  street 
was  filling  up,  and  the  doors  must  be  opened.  When  this  was 
done  the  young  fellows  who  had  made  so  much  trouble  on  Sat- 
urday night — or  at  least  some  hundreds  of  this  class — forced 
their  way  in  through  all  else,  leaving  hundreds  more  outside. 
They  talked  and  laughed,  and  although  now  and  then  a  police- 
man marched  a  row  of  them  out,  their  game  went  on,  spoiling 
everything. 

"  The  voice  of  the  interpreter  was  weak,  and  the  confusion 
flustered  him.  So  my  dreams  of  a  smash  and  of  a  hundred 
seekers  were  not  realised,  and  we  terminated  with  some  six 
or  seven  gathered  out  of  the  crowd  immediately  near  to  the 
platform. 

"  It  was  a  great  disappointment.  I  felt  beaten,  and  went 
home  confessing  it.  And  yet  what  could  be  done  ?  My  tongue 
was  all  but  tied.  I  was  helpless  without  an  interpreter  capable 
of  conveying  my  meaning  to  the  people.  Such  a  man  was  want- 
ing. Commending  the  whole  matter  and  the  anxious  crowds  of 
people  so  eager  to  hear  to  my  Master,  I  retired  at  midnight. 

"  Monday. — Breakfast,  8.30  a.m.  9  a.m.,  spoke  with  a  gentle- 
man from  Kiel,  who  is  anxious  to  see  The  Army  open  there, 
and  is  building  us  a  Hall.     Saw  his  plans  and  arranged  terms. 

9.30  a.m.,  saw  the  Officer  from  Stuttgart.  He  has  a  heavy 
struggle.  12  noon,  drove  round  the  city.  In  summer  time  it 
must  be  a  very  pleasant  place. 

"3.30  p.m..  Meeting.  Fine  audience,  very  nearly  filling  the 
church.  Commenced  with  a  new  interpreter,  a  student — ex- 
ecrable!    I  soon  had  to  fall  back  on  one  of  the  others. 

"7  p.m.,  as  full  as  the  police  would  allow.  Continued  till 
10  p.m.    And  then  had  a  Soldiers*  Meeting  till  11.30  p.m. 

"  Left  Copenhagen  the  next  morning  at  8.30  a.m." 


We  who  have  since  seen  some  of  The  General's  greatest 


124*  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

triumphs  in  that  city,  and  have  watched  the  steady  growth 
of  The  Army  in  Denmark  till  it  has  won  the  sympathy  of 
the  Royal  Family  and  of  every  other  decent  family  in  the 
country,  must  rejoice  in  this  record  of  his  first  desperate 
battles  there,  and  can  guess  how  much  of  all  the  subsequent 
victory  is  due  to  what  his  people  learned  in  those  days. 

But  the  record  has  a  far  wider  interest,  for  it  lets  us  see, 
as  we  have  little  opportunity  ordinarily,  the  inward  conflicts 
through  which  The  General  passed  in  so  many  places  where, 
out  of  his  weakness,  or  the  weakness  of  his  forces,  he,  or 
they,  were  *'  made  strong/' 

Few  achievements  of  The  General's  lifetime  will,  I  fancy, 
impress  future  generations  more  than  his  establishment  of 
The  Army  in  Finland  at  the  very  time  when  all  the  former 
liberties  of  that  country  were  gradually  being  taken  away. 

Formerly  recognised  by  treaties  as  a  Grand  Duchy  of 
the  Russian  Empire,  with  its  own  Parliament  and  laws, 
which  were  supposed  to  be  permanently  guaranteed,  Fin- 
land found  itself  looked  upon  with  a  growing  jealousy  just 
when  a  new  constitution  was  slowly  changing  the  govern- 
mental arrangements  of  Russia.  It  is,  as  yet,  too  early  for 
outsiders  to  understand  how  it  came  to  pass  that  the  coun- 
try was  regarded  as  a  centre  of  disaffection,  or  why,  ever 
and  anon  some  new  step  was  taken  to  nullify  its  Parlia- 
ment, and  to  place  it  more  and  more  under  military  control. 
What  we  are  concerned  with  is  the  simple  fact  that  these 
things  interfered  but  little  with  the  steady  progress  of  The 
Army,  and  that  this  proved  at  every  step  the  soundness  of 
The  General's  principles,  the  completeness  with  which  he 
succeeded  in  planting  them  in  the  hearts  of  his  most  distant 
followers,  and  the  marvellous  way  in  which  God  guided, 
protected,  and  blessed  his  work,  just  where  he  could  do  the 
least  for  its  development. 

The  very  beginning  of  the  Work  was  due  entirely  to  one 
of  his  most  daring  decisions,  for  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  any  attempt,  under  the  leadership  of  a  foreigner, 
would  have  been  tolerated  at  that  time.  But  when  a  young 
lady,  who  had  become  acquainted  with  The  Army  in  Stock- 
holm, devoted  herself  to  its  service,  and  after  passing  some 


WOMEN  AND  SCANDINAVIA  125 

time  in  Training  in  London,  was  sent  back  with  two  or 
three  subordinates  to  begin  work  in  Helsingfors,  who  could 
look  upon  her  with  suspicion? 

The  moment  she  succeeded,  however,  in  inducing  a  few 
of  her  first  Converts  to  put  on  our  uniform  or  insignia,  the 
police  came  down  upon  them,  took  away  all  their  badges, 
and  declared  that  the  formation  of  a  Corps  there  must  be 
regarded  as  for  ever  prohibited.  Even  when  the  Converts 
were  provided  with  a  second  supply  of  badges,  they  were 
called  to  the  police-station,  and  again  deprived  of  them. 
But  the  leader  had  learnt  from  The  General  too  well  the 
lessons  of  patient  endurance  and  continuance  to  give  way. 
And  when  the  police  saw  her  followers  supplied  a  third 
time  with  the  signs  of  union  with  us,  having  in  the  mean- 
time had  so  many  opportunities  to  learn  more  both  of  the 
leader  and  of  her  people,  they  concluded  that  it  would  be, 
after  all,  the  best  for  the  public  interest  to  let  them  alone. 

Two  newspapers  in  the  two  languages  of  the  country 
were  issued  and  sold  in  all  the  public-houses.  Congrega- 
tions were  gathered  in  all  the  cities,  and  even  small  towns, 
and  everywhere  the  authorities  could  see  that  no  spirit  of 
discontent  with  anything  but  sin  and  evil  habits  was  being 
created,  but  that  the  police  would  find  their  tasks  lightened, 
and  the  life  of  the  poorest  of  the  people  brightened  and 
bettered,  if  they  let  the  work  go  on. 


Chapter  XIV] 

CHILDREN  CONQUERORS  IN  HOLLAND  AND 
ELSEWHERE 

The  Generars  own  personal  experience,  as  well  as  num- 
berless instances  that  came  under  his  observation  in  his 
own  and  other  families,  gave  him  the  same  assurance  as  to 
the  need  and  possibility  of  the  Salvation  of  children  as  he 
had  with  regard  to  adults. 

If  human  beings  cannot  hope  to  please  God  until  they 
are  born  again  of  His  Spirit,  what  folly  it  would  be  to  give 
up  the  best  years  of  life  to  mere  outside  instruction,  in- 
stead of  aiming  first  of  all  at  this  first  and  greatest  need. 
This  law  he  always  laid  down  as  the  guiding  line  with 
regard  to  all  work  amongst  children,  instead  of  the  ordinary 
Sunday  School  idea  "  first  teach,  and  then  try  to  lead  the 
children  to  Christ." 

In  his  first  publication,  How  to  Reach  the  Masses  with 
the  Gospel,  he  wrote  in  1871 : — 

"  Great  pains  are  taken,  we  know,  to  make  the  children  ac- 
quainted with  the  history  and  theory  of  Christianity;  but  their 
conversion,  which  is  the  main  thing,  seems  to  us  to  be  sadly 
and  sorely  overlooked.  That  the  immediate  gathering  of  the 
children  to  Christ  is  the  teacher's  work,  is  recognised,  we  fear, 
in  very  few  schools.  It  is  not  the  aim  of  the  present  moment; 
and,  consequently,  little  effort  is  made  to  bring  it  about.  Feel- 
ing all  this,  we  resolved  that,  if  ever  opportunity  offered,  we 
would  try  services  as  much  adapted  for  the  conversion  and 
instruction  of  children  as  our  other  services  are  for  adults. 

"  On  the  first  Sunday  afternoon  in  April,  1869,  we  held  our 
first  *  Children's  Salvation  Service/  in  our  late  Hall  in  the  old 
Bethnal  Green  Road,  and  five  children  professed  to  find  the 
Saviour." 

But  of  all  The  General's  revolutionary  tasks  this  has, 

126 


CHILDREN  CONQUERORS  IN  HOLLAND     m 

perhaps,  proved  to  be  the  toughest.  His  eldest  son — now 
General  Bramwell  Booth — made  the  children's  work  his 
earliest  care,  and  in  later  years  held  annually  Councils  for 
all  Officers  engaged  in  it  in  England. 

But,  although  God  has  wrought  wonders  amongst  the 
children  in  every  land,  so  that  we  have  now  thousands  of 
Officers  who  have  been  won  in  their  early  years  by  that 
Junior  work,  the  spectre  of  the  Sunday  School  ever  and 
anon  rises  to  threaten  with  a  peaceful  death,  this  Divine 
undertaking.  Only  the  most  persistent  watchfulness  can 
prevent  the  narrow  idea  of  instruction,  and  unbelief  as  to 
children's  Salvation  which  is  its  foundation,  from  gaining 
the  upper  hand.  It  is  so  easy  to  get  a  thousand  children 
drilled  into  pretty  attention,  pretty  performances,  pretty 
recitations  and  singing,  and  even  into  some  degree  of  knowl- 
edge of  the  killing  letter,  but  so  hard  to  get  any  one  child 
really  to  submit  to  the  one  great  Teacher  of  mankind,  and 
be  saved ! 

Therefore  we  take  special  pleasure  in  dwelling  upon  the 
fact  that  The  General's  theory  has  been  proved,  on  trial, 
to  result  in  producing  heroes  and  heroines,  capable,  almost 
in  infancy,  of  daring  battle  for  God,  and  becoming,  before 
they  reach  their  majority,  thoroughly  experienced  and  in- 
telligent conquerors. 

In  that  earliest  record  we  read : — 

"Although  the  services  are  strictly  for  children,  it  is  not  an 
unusual  thing  to  see  adults  sitting  by  the  side  of  the  little  ones, 
and  sometimes  to  see  parent  and  child  kneeling  together  seek- 
ing '  to  know  Him  whom  to  know  is  life  eternal/  One  Sunday 
evening  a  woman  brought  her  young  son,  who  a  short  time 
previously  had  been  detected  in  an  act  of  dishonesty.  During 
the  service  God's  Spirit  strove  with  both.  The  mother  saw  that 
she  would  have  to  give  an  account  of  her  doings,  as  well  as  the 
boy,  and  so,  side  by  side,  they  knelt,  sought  and  professed  to 
find  pardon. 

"A  young  lad  who  had  been  a  source  of  great  annoyance  at 
our  Meetings,  and  a  dreadful  swearer,  a  short  time  ago  died 
triumphant  in  the  faith.  When  lying  in  the  London  Hospital, 
evidently  dying,  he  sent  a  request  that  I  would  tell  the  children 


128  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

that  he  was  'going  Home';  *but  tell  them  I'm  not  afraid;  and. 
Oh,  tell  them  not  to  swear/  " 

Many  of  our  leading  Officers  of  to-day  were  truly  con- 
verted before  they  were  ten  years  old,  so  that,  at  thirty, 
they  were  already  veterans  in  the  Fight.  Two  Colonels, 
who  were  later  most  frequently  seen  closely  associated  with 
The  General's  Campaigns,  like  him  were  converted  at  fif- 
teen— one  of  them  being  at  that  time  almost  overlooked  by 
the  Sergeant,  who  was  counting  the  Penitents.  "  Cap- 
tain," said  he,  "there  are  seventy-one;  or  seventy-two,  if 
you  count  this  lad.'' 

The  General  has  not  only  counted  his  young  lads  and 
lasses  whenever  they  were  true  Penitents,  but  has  dared 
to  set  them  at  once  to  work  to  bring  others  to  Christ  and 
that  with  such  effect  that  whole  countries  have  felt  the 
result. 

Our  first  Dutch  Officer  was  a  young  teacher,  dismissed 
from  his  employment  because  he  would  persist  in  seeking 
the  Salvation,  as  well  as  the  instruction,  of  his  young  pu- 
pils. After  spending  a  few  months  in  England  in  order 
to  be  able  to  translate  for  us,  he  became  the  Lieutenant  and 
general  helper  of  our  pioneer  Officer  there.  The  way  had 
been  prepared  before  us  by  a  retired  Major  of  the  Dutch 
Army,  who  had  for  some  time  been  carrying  on  mis- 
sion work  in  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  and  who,  having 
seen  something  of  The  Army  in  England,  turned  over 
his  Mission  Hall  to  us  and  gave  us  all  possible  help. 
He  was  rewarded  by  seeing  all  his  own  children  con- 
verted. 

Holland  has  suffered,  perhaps,  more  than  any  country  in 
the  world,  from  the  substitution  of  head  knowledge  for 
real  heart  acquaintance  with  God.  The  refuge  of  true  be- 
lievers in  days  of  terrible  persecution,  it  has  seen  its 
Churches  either  paralysed  with  the  narrowest  and  coldest 
orthodoxy,  proclaiming  the  impossibility  of  Salvation  for 
any  but  the  few  elect,  or  the  natural  reaction,  a  wild  **  lib- 
eralism," which  doubts  everything.  How  far  the  two 
million  Catholics  of  the  country  hold  fast  their  old  faith 


CHILDREN  CONQUERORS  IN  HOLLAND     129 

is  doubtful;  but  it  is  admitted  that  very  few  of  the  other 
four  millions  profess  to  be  "  born  again." 

But  The  General  never  sought  to  trim  his  sails  to  catch 
any  "  modern  "  breeze.  Upon  his  every  visit  to  the  coun- 
try he  spoke  out  with  the  same  simple  liberty  as  in  Eng- 
land. Of  the  fisherman  leader  he  sent  to  represent  him  in 
Holland,  knowing  "  only  a  handful "  of  Dutch  words,  a 
lady  said,  "  He  prays  just  Hke  a  man  who  is  drowning." 
Such  praying,  and  corresponding  effort,  for  "  the  perish- 
ing" soon  brought  thousands  to  kneel  in  penitence  before 
God. 

The  General  has  visited  the  country  repeatedly,  presid- 
ing over  the  Annual  Reviews,  which  have  generally  been 
held  on  some  great  land  proprietor's  estate,  or  holding 
"  Days  with  God "  in  its  largest  theatres.  Of  one  such 
visit,  in  1906,  he  writes: — 

"I  have  just  had  a  wonderful  campaign  in  Holland — Meet- 
ings, enthusiasm,  collections,  and  souls  far  beyond  anything 
that  has  preceded  it  in  my  experience.    Praise  the  dear  Lord." 

The  simple  old  Gospel  that  any  child  can  understand,  has 
indeed  made  The  Army  triumphant  all  over  Holland,  iand 
the  following  extracts  from  The  General's  diary,  during 
his  visit  of  1908,  will  show  how  childlike  a  faith  and  de- 
votion our  people  there  have: — • 

"Rotterdam^    Saturday,    'March    14th. — Soldiers*    and    ex- 
Soldiers*  Meeting  fine — ^three- fourths  men.    A  great  improve-, 
ment  on  anything  I  have  seen  in  the  way  of  Soldiers*  Meetings 
in  this  place.    I  got  the  truth  out,  and  thirty-seven  of  them  fell 
at  the  Penitent-Form  to  seek  power  to  walk  in  its  light. 

"Sunday. — The  Doelen  Hall  (one  of  the  largest  auditoriums 
in  the  city)  full  in  the  morning,  and  crowds  shut  out  afternoon 
and  night.  People  hard  at  first;  but  twenty-two  came  to  the 
Penitent-Form  in  the  morning,  and  fifty-eight  at  night.  Never 
saw  men  weep  more  freely.    £212  given  during  the  day. 

"  Monday. — Came  on  to  Amsterdam  and  commenced  Officers' 
Councils. 

"  Tuesday. — A  tired,  restless  night  for  some  reason  or  other. 


130  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

Sleep  flew.  Occupied  with  many  matters,  but  not  very  anxious. 
Still,  did  not  get  much  refreshment  or  invigoration  for  the  day's 
work,  and  felt  accordingly.  On  the  whole,  the  three  Meetings 
were  interesting,  and,  I  think,  useful  to  the  Officers  present, 
although   nothing  remarkable. 

"Wednesday. — What  I  said  of  the  Councils  yesterday  may 
be  repeated  to-day.  I  had  a  great  deal  more  material  than  I 
could  possibly  introduce  into  two  days,  and  on  leaving  out 
some  topics,  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  some  were  left  out  that 
might  have  been  of  great  benefit.  However,  everybody  was 
pleased,  and,  I  think,  profited.  The  only  question  in  my  mind, 
similar  to  the  one  that  haunts  me  in  every  Officers'  Council,  is 
whether  I  am  making  the  most  of  the  opportunity. 

"There  is  no  doubt  that  we  have  here  a  powerful  body  of 
men  and  women,  good,  devoted,  and  loyal  to  the  principles  of 
The  Army,  proud  to  be  connected  with  it,  and  ready  to  receive 
instructions,  and  to  carry  them  out.  The  great  lack  appears 
to  be  a  want  of  energy,  enterprise,  and  daring,  the  being  con- 
tent with  a  little  success  instead  of  reaching  out  to  all  that  is 
possible  and  promising.  However,  they  are  wonderfully  im- 
proved, and  I  hope  the  present  Commissioner's  health  will  allow 
of  his  carrying  them  a  long  way  farther  in  the  direction  of 
enthusiasm  than  they  have  reached  before. 

"  Lieut.-Colonel  Schoch  (our  original  friend  before  referred 
to)  was  with  us  at  all  the  Meetings.  He  is  very  cordial,  and 
in  making  the  closing  speech,  described  his  oneness  with  The 
Army  in  every  direction. 

"My  correspondence  with  London  is  somewhat  heavy. 

"Thursday. — Fair  night's  sleep,  but  feeling  rather  tired, 
which  must  be  expected.  We  are  away  to  Den  Helder  at  9.42 
a.m.,  so  must  be  stirring.  Den  Helder  is  a  naval  port,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Dutch  navy.  We  were  billetted  with  Rear- 
Admiral  van  den  Bosch,  who  is  in  command  of  the  port,  fleet, 
dockyards,  and  many  other  things.  We  were  received  at  the 
station  in  a  formal  but  hearty  manner  by  the  leading  people 
of  the  town,  in  the  large  waiting-room  (decorated  for  the 
occasion),  by  the  minister  of  the  State  Church,  who  made  a 
really  eloquent  address.  The  great  point  of  his  speech  was  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit — God  working  through  us  to  the  benefit 
of  mankind.  As  he  stood  there  talking  in  that  circle  of  sixty 
or  seventy  of  the  leading  inhabitants  of  the  place,  including 
naval  officers  of  rank,  professionals  of  various  classes,  and 
prominent  people,  I  could  not  help  feeling,  as  I  often  feel  now. 


CHILDREN  CONQUERORS  IN  HOLLAND     131 

what  a  change  has  come  over  the  people,  not  only  with  respect 
to  The  Army,  but  towards  myself. 

"  I  answered  in  a  few  words  that  I  trust  were  useful  and 
beneficial  to  all  present.  The  whole  thing,  from  the  moment 
of  my  being  received  at  the  door  of  my  railway  carriage,  until 
I  left  next  morning,  had  been  prearranged  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  one  of  our  Local  Officers,  to  his  great  credit, 
to  the  credit  of  his  town,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  Gen- 
eral. 

"  The  mail  brought  me  a  request  to  take  over  a  certain  county 
council's  lodging-house  for  poor  men,  on  which  they  are  losing 
a  large  sum,  also  another  to  take  over  an  inebriates'  home,  which 
cost  £40,000  and  is  an  utter  failure.  In  such  exploits  people 
will  not  have  The  Salvation  Army  at  the  onset,  otherwise  they 
might  save  a  good  deal  of  expense,  etc. 

"  Friday. — Arriving  at  Amsterdam,  the  mail  brought  con- 
firmation of  my  agreement  of  yesterday  to  postpone  my  South 
African  visit  to  September,  and  to  begin  my  Motor  Tour  at 
Dundee,  and  finish  at  the  Crystal  Palace.  In  all  these  things 
the  maxim  is  ever  present  to  my  mind,  *  Man  proposes,  but 
God  disposes.*  Closed  the  night  at  the  desk,  which  is  becoming 
more  and  more  a  difficult  task  from  the  failure  of  my  eyes. 

"  Saturday. — Good  night's  sleep.  That  is  for  me,  anyway, 
a  great  improvement  on  recent  nights.  So  now  for  a  good 
day's  work,  of  which  there  is  plenty  lying  before  me. 

"  7.30  p.m.,  Soldiers'  Meeting.  We  have  always  been  crowded 
out  before,  so  this  time  the  Palace  Theatre  was  taken,  as  an 
experiment,  and  it  justified  my  reckonings  for  several  years 
gone  by,  namely,  that  we  could  fill  any  reasonable  place  on 
Saturday  night  here,  and  yet  keep  the  Meeting  select;  that  is, 
confine  it  to  Soldiers  and  ex-Soldiers,  adherents,  and  those  con- 
cerned about  religion.  We  were  more  than  full,  and  the  place 
holds  1,500.  I  had  much  liberty  in  speaking,  the  After  Meet- 
ing went  with  a  swing  seldom  known  on  the  Continent  or  else- 
where, and  we  had  eighty-four  at  the  Penitent-Form,  some 
of  them  remarkable  cases." 

No  wonder  this  octogenarian  Leader  finds  his  young 
Dutchmen  wanting  in  enterprise! 

"  Sunday. — The  theatre  again  in  the  morning  at  ten.  An 
excellent  plan.    Oh,  that  it  could  be  adopted  the  world  over! 


13^  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

The  senseless  system  of  beginning  at  eleven  makes  you  feel 
it  is  time  to  close  almost  before  you  have  had  time  to  get  well 
started.  We  were  crowded,  large  numbers  outside  clamouring 
for  admission,  so  much  so  that  the  police  called  out  their  re- 
serves, and  fifty  men  guarded  the  entrance.  We  had  an  excel- 
lent service  inside,  and  forty  at  the  Mercy-Seat.  It  was  a  beau- 
tiful Meeting,  and  made  a  mark  for  ever  on  my  heart,  and  on 
the  hearts  of  many  more. 

"  Afternoon.  The  large  Hall  of  the  People's  Palace  had  been 
arranged  for  this  as  well  as  the  Night  Meeting.  We  were  full, 
and  many  were  turned  away.  I  lectured  on  *  The  Duty  of  the 
Community.'  Great  satisfaction  among  my  own  people,  and  a 
good  impression  made  upon  the  minds  of  a  good  many  of  the 
leading  people  of  the  city. 

"  Night,  7.30.  Again  full.  It  is  a  building  erected  for  an 
Exhibition,  and  made  suitable  for  a  Meeting  only  by  putting 
up  a  great  screen  across  the  centre.  I  suppose  we  could  have 
filled  the  entire  space;  but  whether  my  interpreter  could  then 
have  been  heard,  I  am  not  sure.  I  preached  with  point  and 
power — more  breathless  attention  I  never  had  in  my  life.  I 
reckoned  on  an  easy  conquest,  but  we  had  one  of  the  hardest 
fights  I  ever  remember  before  we  got  a  soul  out.  I  left  at 
10.30,  completely  played  out.  A  wall  of  policemen  on  either 
side  kept  the  people  back  while  I  got  into  the  carriage,  the 
crowd  having  waited  a  long  time  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  me. 
Had  long,  restless,  and  sleepless  spells  during  the  night;  but 
still  I  have  not  done  amiss  on  the  whole.  I  must  now  prepare 
myself  for  the  coming  Berlin  Staff  Congress." 

So  much  for  the  general  efifect  upon  a  largely  unbelieving 
people  of  simple,  childlike  faith ! 

But  The  General  was,  of  course,  always  just  as  earnest 
about  instructing  all  who  came  to  him,  old  or  young,  in 
the  way  of  life,  as  about  getting  them  into  it.  In  the 
midst  of  these  tremendous  Campaigns,  he  repeatedly  pre- 
pared Lesson-books  for  both  children  and  adults.  To  a 
lady  who  had  tried  to  help  him  by  sending  him  a  number 
of  catechisms  for  children,  on  such  an  occasion,  he  wrote : — 

"Thanks  for  your  letter,  and  your  catechisms  sent  here. 
"  The  particular  catechisms  you  send  I  already  had — ^not  that 
the  church  affair  could  be  of  any  advantage  to  me,  and  I  should 


CHILDREN  CONQUERORS  IN  HOLLAND     133 

imagine  it  would  not  be  of  much  use  to  any  one  else,  especially 
to  children. 

"  I  am  trying  to  produce  something  that  will  be  a  boon  to 
The  Army  by  being  blessed  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  chil- 
dren for  years  to  come.  You  do  not  seem  to  think  it  is  a  very 
important  task.  I  count  it  the  most  important  work  I  have 
had  my  hands  on  for  years. 

"  I  had  a  proper  day  at .     I  got  at  the  peasantry  for  once, 

although  I  have  often  had  that  privilege  before,  and  we  had  a 
mighty  day.  Oh,  the  joy  of  leading  those  simple  souls  into  the 
light  and  power  and  freedom  of  the  Kingdom!  I  am  keeping 
better.    Praise  the  Lord!" 

Whether  The  General's  hopes  for  the  use  of  his  writings 
to  the  good  of  children  will  be  fully  realised,  remains  to  be 
seen;  but  it  is  a  great  thing  to  have  established  even  the 
purpose  of  making  the  way  to  Heaven  plain  enough  for 
the  youngest  feet  to  find. 

The  other  day  I  heard  a  Captain  explaining  how  he  was 
"  conscripted  "  into  The  Army  at  ten  years  of  age.  He 
was  standing  outside  the  door  of  one  of  our  Halls  on  an 
evening  when  children  were  not  admitted.  He  had  tried, 
in  vain,  boylike,  to  dodge  through  the  doorkeeper's  legs — 
but  a  drunken  woman  came  up  and  not  only  insisted  on 
getting  in,  but  on  dragging  him  in  "  to  keep  her  company." 
Once  inside,  she  went  right  up  to  the  Penitent-Form  with 
her  prisoner,  and  made  him  kneel  with  her  there.  He  had 
never  seen  so  many  grown-up  people  kneeling  before,  and, 
as  they  prayed,  he  felt  what  a  naughty  boy  he  had  been, 
and  began  both  to  weep  and  pray.  However  little  any 
older  people  might  think  of  him  that  night,  God  heard  and 
saved  him,  and  he  is  now  fighting  under  our  Flag  in  the 
West  Indies. 

And  others,  who  in  their  early  years  came  to  Christ,  are 
now  occupying  leading  positions  all  over  the  world.  One 
of  them  remembers,  when  a  lad  of  fifteen,  hearing  The 
General,  whilst  giving  out  the  verse,  "  Sure,  I  must  fight, 
if  I  would  reign;  Increase  my  courage.  Lord,"  say,  "I 
would  like  to  alter  it,  to — '  Sure,  I  will  fight,  and  I  shall 
reign.'  "     The  lad  shouted,  "  Hallelujah !  "  and,  as  he  was 


134  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

on  the  front  seat  in  the  theatre,  The  General  both  heard 
and  noticed  him,  and  remarked :  "  I  hope  you  will  make  as 
good  a  fighter  as  you  are  a  shouter."  Thirty-three  years 
of  faithful  warfare  have  replied  to  The  General's  encour- 
aging challenge. 

And  we  have  no  means  as  yet  of  calculating  how  many 
such  youthful  disciples  have  been  equally  helped  by  The 
General  into  a  conquering  life.  May  this  record  help  to 
multiply  the  number,  for  it  is  the  will  of  God  to  make  all 
His  children  "  strong  in  the  power  of  His  might." 

It  is,  indeed,  this  bringing  all,  whether  old  or  young, 
forward,  in  the  development  of  all  their  powers  for  God, 
which  constitutes  everywhere  a  great  part  of  The  Army's 
work. 

The  enlarging  influence  of  a  close  contact  with  Christ 
has  hardly  yet  been  fully  realised  even  by  ourselves.  The 
peasant,  whose  whole  circle  of  thought  was  so  limited  and 
stereotyped  that  his  life  only  rose  by  few  degrees  above 
that  of  the  animals  he  drove  before  him,  is  taught  by  The 
Army  to  pray  and  sing  to  the  Maker  and  Saviour  of  the 
world : — 

Give  me  a  heart  like  Thine; 

By  Thy  wonderful  power. 

By  Thy  grace  every  hour. 
Give  me  a  heart  like  Thine. 

In  a  few  years'  time  you  will  find  that  man  capable  of 
directing  the  War  over  a  wide  stretch  of  country---dealing 
not  merely  with  as  many  Meetings  in  a  week  as  some  men 
would  be  content  to  hold  in  a  year,  and  with  the  diversified 
needs  of  thousands  of  souls;  but  taking  his  share  in  any 
business  transactions,  or  councils  with  civic  authorities,  as 
ably  as  any  city-born  man. 

What  has  so  enlarged  his  capacity,  broadened  his  sym- 
pathies, and  turned  him  into  the  polite  and  valued  associate 
of  any  one,  high  or  low,  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact? 
His  library,  if,  indeed  he  has  any,  beyond  the  few  Army 
publications  he  needs  for  his  work,  is  still  scanty  enough  to 
make  his  removal  at  a  few  hours'  notice  remarkably  easy, 


CHILDREN  CONQUERORS  IN  HOLLAND     135 

and  he  will  not  be  found  much  in  public  reading-rooms 
either.  He  has  very  little  time  for  fellowship  with  any  of 
the  intelligent  friends  who,  for  The  Army's  sake,  might 
now  be  willing  to  help  him  on. 

He  has  simply  had  that  oft-repeated  prayer  answered, 
and  with  the  heart  of  a  saviour  of  all  men  comes  an  interest 
in  men's  thoughts  and  ways  which  leads  the  man  ever  on- 
ward, overcoming  all  his  own  ignorance  and  incapacities, 
for  the  sake  of  helping  on  the  War. 

Thus  The  General's  declaration  at  an  early  moment,  that 
he  would  get  his  preachers  out  of  the  public-houses,  has  not 
merely  been  justified  with  regard  to  the  first  elementary 
lines  of  recruiting;  but  the  grace  of  God  has  proved  capable 
of  developing,  out  of  the  most  limited  and  despoiled  hu- 
man material,  the  most  able  and  large-hearted  of  organisers 
and  leaders,  without  building  up  any  artificial  or  educa- 
tional barriers  between  them  and  their  former  associates. 

How,  indeed,  could  it  be  otherwise?  Those  who  are 
ignorant  of  God  may  well  doubt  the  possibility  of  any  men- 
tal improvement  by  means  of  prayer.  But  those  who  be- 
lieve that  it  is  possible  for  the  poorest  to  dwell  on  earth 
with  their  Saviour,  and  to  hold  continual  intercourse  with 
.Him,  will  perfectly  understand  how  enlightening,  how  ele- 
vating, how  inspiring  such  fellowship  must  ever  be.  Alas ! 
how  few  there  are  yet  in  the  world  who  can  truly  say,  "  Our 
fellowship  is  with  the  Father,  and  with  His  Son,  Jesus 
Christ.'* 


Chapter  XV 

INDIA  AND  DEVOTEES 

Nowhere  has  The  Army  shown  its  marvellous  power  to 
unite  men  of  all  races  and  classes  so  rapidly  and  completely 
as  in  India.  With  its  Headquarters  in  Simla,  and  its 
leader,  formerly  a  magistrate  under  the  Indian  Govern- i 
ment,  looked  upon  almost  as  a  felon,  and  imprisoned  when/ 
he  first  began  leading  Open-Air  Meetings  in  Bombay,  but! 
now  honoured  by  the  highest  both  of  British  and  Indian* 
rulers  and  by  the  lowest  of  its  outcasts  equally.  The  Army 
has  become  the  fully-recognised  friend  of  Governors  and 
governed  alike. 

When  The  General  decided  upon  issuing  a  weekly  paper 
called  The  War  Cry,  it  was  to  be  as  nearly  as  possible  The 
Salvation  Army  in  print,  and  Mr.  Booth-Tucker,  then  an 
Indian  official,  at  once  got  the  idea,  from  the  copy  he  read, 
that  such  a  force  as  it  described  was  exactly  what  was 
wanted  in  that  country — a  set  of  Christians  determined  to 
fight  for  the  establishment  of  Christ's  Kingdom  by  every 
method  love  could  devise;  but  loving  especially  the  poorest 
and  weakest,  and  proving  their  love  by  working  continually 
amongst  them.  After  visiting  England,  to  see  The  Army 
and  its  leaders  for  himself,  he  had  no  hesitation  in  abandon- 
ing his  Government  appointment,  and  giving  himself  up  for 
life  to  this  War. 

Such  was  the  devotion  of  our  Officers,  and  especially  of 
the  first  Indians  they  won,  that  The  General,  far  from  hav- 
ing to  urge  them  forward,  had  rather  to  check  the  tend- 
ency needlessly  to  sacrifice  health  and  life.  He  gladly  gave, 
at  later  dates,  two  of  his  own  daughters  to  the  Work ;  ..ad, 
perfectly  informed  by  his  own  repeated  visits  to  the  coun- 
try, and  by  what  he  learnt  from  the  actualities  of  the  War, 
he  was  the  better  able  to  correct  mistakes,  and  so  to  utilise 
to  the  uttermost  the  forces  that  were  raised  in  various  parts 

136 


INDIA  AND  DEVOTEES  137 

of  the  vast  peninsula.  Nobody  would  hesitate  to  acknowl- 
edge how  much  his  counsels  helped  to  prevent  an  excessive 
zeal  from  sacrificing  precious  lives. 

He  divided  the  country  into  six  Territories,  each  under 
a  separate  Commander,  realising  that  India  could  not  be 
treated  as  one  country,  but  that  its  diverse  people  must  be 
dealt  with  according  to  their  several  needs,  and  that  unless 
those  using  different  languages  were  trained  to  act  inde- 
pendently enough  of  each  other  they  could  never  form 
strong  enough  forces  to  cope  with  the  vast  enterprises  re- 
quired. But  the  following  account,  written  to  his  children, 
of  his  first  visit  to  the  country  gives  a  photographic  view, 
both  of  his  own  activities  and  successes,  and  of  the  atti- 
tude of  the  high  and  mighty  generally  towards  him  at  that 
remote  date.  He  writes  from  Benares,  January  13,  1892, 
just  ten  years  after  our  beginning  in  India : — 

"Benares^  January  13,  1892. 

"My  dear  Children, — 

"  Wednesday  and  Thursday,  6th  and  7th,  were  consumed  in 
travelling  to  Calcutta,  and,  all  things  considered,  I  got  through 
the  journey  very  well.  Nevertheless,  I  was  exceedingly  weary 
on  being  roused  at  five  o'clock  to  prepare  for  the  arrival. 

"It  was  early,  5.35  a.m.,  and  Colonel  Ajeet  Singh  did  not 
expect  any  reception  beyond  that  of  our  own  Officers. 

"  To  our  surprise,  however,  we  found  the  platform  crowded 
with  our  own  enthusiastic  little  party  (who  raised  some  music 
from  a  scratch  Band),  some  native  Christians,  and  a  very  large 
number  of  Hindu  gentlemen. 

"  I  was  taken  by  surprise,  and,  unaware  of  the  extent  of  the 
demonstration,  allowed  them  to  leave  by  only  shaking  hands. 

"  Interview  upon  interview  followed  during  the  morning,  but 
in  the  afternoon  I  was  down  for  the  Town  Hall  Meeting.  I 
scarcely  ever  remember  in  my  life  feeling  more  thoroughly 
weary  than  on  that  day.  Three  times  I  laid  down  to  try  to 
sleep,  and  each  time  failed  to  get  a  wink,  and  my  brain  was 
benumbed  and  bewildered  when  I  entered  that  immense  build- 
ing and  was  called  upon  by  General  Merrill,  the  American  Con- 
sul, who  presided,  to  address  that  crowd. 

"  I  don't  know  whether  Commissioner  Booth-Tucker  ever 
had  a  Meeting  at  the  Town  Hall.    It  is  a  long  building,  120 


138  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

feet  long,  with  the  most  clumsy  pillars  down  the  sides  shut- 
ting out  almost  the  side  seats  from  view. 

"  There  was  quite  as  large  an  audience  as  I  expected,  al- 
though it  was  not  what  it  might  have  been.  There  were  a  few 
Europeans  present  and  a  few  native  Christians,  and  the  re- 
mainder were  composed  of  the  non-Christian  element. 

"Amongst  others  who  interviewed  me  during  the  day,  or 
were  introduced  to  me  before  the  Meeting,  was  the  successor 
to  Chunder  Singh  and  the  two  most  prominent  teachers  of  the 
Brahmo  Samaj,  and  a  number  of  other  leading  people.  On 
the  platform  was  the  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  Vice- 
Chancellor  of  the  University,  and  one  of  the  few  Hindus  who 
are  strict  observers  of  every  principle  and  usage  of  their  sect. 
Near  to  me  was  the  Nawal  Abdool  Luteef  (Mohammedan),  and 
just  behind  me  was  a  boy  of  about  fourteen,  a  son  and  heir 
of  a  Maharajah  whose  father  had  intended  to  have  been  at 
the  Meeting,  but  was  prevented,  and  so  sent  his  son,  a  bright- 
eyed  youth  who  paid  every  attention  to  what  was  said. 

"  General  Merrill  had  consented  to  preside  at  the  last  moment, 
being  induced  to  do  so  very  largely  from  the  fact  that  every 
one  of  the  English  of  any  note  had  refused. 

"  Bombay^  January  i6th. 

"1  broke  off  at  the  beginning  of  my  Calcutta  Campaign  as 
aoove,  not  having  had  a  moment's  space  to  resume.  Never 
had  I  such  a  crush  of  engagements  before,  and  it  was  really 
all  I  could  possibly  do  to  keep  pace  with  them,  and  that  I  only 
did  to  some  extent  in  a  poorish  way. 

"The  detail  of  them  I  must  leave  to  another  day. 

"  I  may  say,  however,  that  Calcutta  in  interest  exceeded  any- 
thing I  have  seen  since  I  left  England.  From  the  rush  of  wel- 
come at  the  railway  station  at  six  in  the  morning,  to  the  pack 
who  came  to  say  farewell  (in  which  the  papers  say  there  were 
3,000  people),  it  was  one  series  of  surprises.  Although  the  Town 
Hall  Meeting  was  stiff,  and  the  Europeans  were  conspicuous 
by  their  absence,  still  there  was  sufficient  indication  of  the  high 
esteem  in  which  The  Army  was  held  in  general,  and  myself 
in  particular,  to  make  it  a  matter  of  great  interest  and  encour- 
agement. 

"  Of  the  welcomes  that  followed  from  individuals  of  note, 
such  as  Mr.  Banner jee  and  Mr.  Bhose  (representing  the  Brahmo 
Samaj)  ;  and  the  Successor  of  Chunderssing,  Mr.  Chuckervetty, 
the  lay  reader  of  the  Yogal  Samaj,  His  Highness  the  Maharajah 
Sir  Joteendro  Mohun,  of  Tanjore,  one  of  the  most  princely  men 


INDIA  AND  DEVOTEES  139 

of  the  city;  the  Nawab  Abdool  Luteef,  the  most  distinguished 
leader  of  the  Mohammedans,  etc.;  and  of  the  several  mission- 
aries who  came  up,  all  was  really  complimentary  and  respectful 
— nay  affectionate. 

"  Then  there  were  the  crowds,  perhaps  the  greatest  in  the 
Emerald  Theatre,  in  which  there  must  have  been  nearly  3,000 
people,  inside  and  out,  listening  through  the  doorways.  It  was 
certainly  the  most  remarkable  audience  I  ever  addressed.  Ex- 
clusively native.  I  only  saw  one  white  face  in  the  crowd  be- 
yond our  own  people.  Nothing  more  hearty  could  have  been 
conceived.  Then  came  Meeting  upon  Meeting;  but  the  Circus 
on  Sunday  night  outdid  almost  anything  in  some  respects,  that 
I  have  ever  witnessed  in  my  life.  It  came  upon  me  quite  by 
surprise.  The  hour  fixed  was  the  same  as  the  churches,  and 
it  had  been  predicted  that  we  should  not  get  an  audience.  It 
was  right  away  outside  the  city,  in  a  park  in  the  swellest  part 
of  the  suburbs.  Consequently,  it  was  not  at  all  attractive  to  the 
native,  who  doesn't  like  to  get  outside  his  own  quarter. 

"  The  Emerald  Theatre  had  been  a  great  success  because  it 
was  in  the  midst  of  his  quarter;  the  Europeans  would  not  come 
there,  and  now  it  was  fair  to  assume  that  the  native  would  not 
come  to  the  European  centre. 

"As  to  any  attendance  of  English  people,  that  was  hardly 
to  be  expected.  They  had  cold-shouldered  me  at  the  Town  Hall, 
the  Lieutenant-Governor  had  even  refused  to  see  one  of  our 
Officers  when  she  called,  although  he  had  the  reputation  of  be- 
ing a  Christian  man.  The  Viceroy  had  been  civil  to  me — he 
could  not  have  been  otherwise;  in  fact,  he  verged  on  friendli- 
ness before  we  parted — but  that  was  all.  His  Military  Secre- 
tary had  been  as  stiff  as  military  etiquette  could  possibly  make 
him.  There  seemed  to  be,  therefore,  nothing  much  to  expect 
as  to  audience  from  them. 

"  Then  I  was  tired  out — a  more  wearying  morning  and  after- 
noon I  had  seldom  experienced — and  I  bargained  in  my  own 
mind,  and  even  mentioned  it  to  Ajeet  Singh,  that  if  there  was 
not  much  of  an  audience  I  should  leave  them  to  bear  the  brunt 
of  the  burden. 

"As  we  drove  up  the  appearance  of  things  seemed  to  con- 
firm my  anticipations.  Everything  was  silent.  They  had  been 
afraid  of  the  roaring  of  the  wild  beasts  disturbing  the  Meet- 
ings, but  there  was  not  a  growl  to  be  heard,  nor  a  carriage  to 
be  seen,  nor  even  a  pedestrian.  It  is  true  we  were  at  the  back 
part  of  the  Circus. 


140  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"Hoe  came  to  meet  us,  however,  at  the  gates,  and  when 
asked  about  the  audience  very  coolly  announced,  to  our  amaze- 
ment, that  they  were  full.  Without  any  delay,  therefore,  I 
mounted  the  platform,  and  the  sight  that  met  me  certainly  was 
sufficiently  surprising  to  be  actually  bewildering.  They  say  the 
place  seated  3,500 ;  it  appeared  to  be  full.  It  was  a  simple  circle, 
with  a  ring  set  in  the  centre.  At  one  end  was  a  little  platform 
seating  myself  and  my  Staff,  opposite  me  was  the  entrance  for 
the  horses,  which  was  packed  by  the  crowd,  while  the  remaining 
space,  on  circle  upon  circle,  tier  upon  tier,  the  audience  was 
to  be  seen.  On  the  right  hand  we  had  row  after  row  of  Queen's 
soldiers  in  their  red  jackets,  lower  down  the  Eurasian  and  mid- 
dle-class Europeans,  with  a  few  natives.  In  the  centre  we  had 
a  very  fair  proportion  of  the  elite  of  Calcutta:  there  was  the 
Lieut.-Governor,  the  Chief  Commissioner  of  Police,  the  Con- 
suls of  America  and  two  or  three  other  countries,  some  great 
native  swells,  ladies  bespangled  with  jewellery  and  finery,  while 
on  the  left  was  one  mass  of  dark  faces  reaching  right  up  to  the 
canvas  sky.  It  was  the  most  picturesque  audience  I  ever  ad- 
dressed, to  say  the  least  of  it. 

"  Our  singing  of  '  Grace  is  flowing  like  a  river,'  was  very 
weak,  still  everybody  listened,  nobody  more  so  than  the  swell 
Europeans. 

"  The  solo,  '  On  Calvary,'  was  sung  with  good  effect,  and  then 
I  rose  to  do  my  best.  The  opportunity  put  new  life  into  me. 
I  was  announced  to  speak  on  *  The  Religion  of  Humanity/  but 
this  did  not  seem  to  me  to  be  the  hour  for  argument  of  any 
description;  there  was  no  time  for  dissertation.  I  felt  I  must 
have  something  that  went  straight  to  the  point.  I  had  been 
talking  to  these  Brahmo  Samaj  and  other  people  upon  Social 
Work,  alluring  them  on  afterwards  by  indirect  arguments  long 
enough.  Now  I  felt  that  I  must  go  as  straight  to  the  point 
as  it  was  possible  to  do.  So  I  took  'What  must  I  do  with 
Jesus?'  and  made  it  fit  into  *  The  Religion  of  Humanity'  as 
best  I  could. 

"  I  never  hit  out  straighter  in  my  life,  and  was  never  listened 
to  with  more  breathless  attention — except  for  the  few  wretched 
natives  in  the  top  seats,  who  would  go  out,  I  guessed,  because 
they  did  not  know  the  language,  and  came  perhaps  expecting 
I  should  be  translated,  and  after  sitting  an  hour  felt  that  was 
enough.  However,  they  soon  cleared  out,  the  audience  taking 
no  notice  of  the  process. 

"Once  done,  however,  a  general  movement  took  place;  a 


INDIA  AND  DEVOTEES  141 

Prayer  Meeting  was  impossible.    We  retired  feeling  that  a  vic- 
tory had  been  gained  so  far. 

"I  cannot  stop  here  to  speak  of  the  Meeting  at  which  the 
Brahmo  Samaj  presented  me  with  an  Address  of  Welcome  the 
next  day. 

"  All  I  know  is,  that  nothing  surprised  me  more  than  to  hear 
some  of  the  priests  and  laymen  declare  that  they  had  gone  with 
me  in  every  word  I  had  said  the  night  before. 

"  Other  Meetings  followed,  interviews,  visits  to  the  houses 
of  the  leading  natives,  and  with  blessings  without  stint  poured 
upon  my  head,  and  hand-shaking  that  almost  threatened  to  lame 
me,  the  train  tore  me  away  from  the  packed  platform,  and  I 
left  Calcutta  with  unfeigned  regret. 

**  I  stayed  a  night  at  Benares,  and  had  the  Town  Hall  crowded, 
with  a  leading  Hindu  in  the  chair.  Quiet  Meeting.  Landed 
here  (Bombay)  six  this  morning  with  a  hearty  welcome,  and, 
I  think,  with  the  promise  of  good  Meetings,  although  anything 
equal  to  Calcutta  is  not  to  be  expected;  and  the  news  of  the 
death  of  the  Prince  has  come  in  our  way,  the  news  of  which 
we  have  only  just  received. 

"  This  will  be  my  last  letter,  I  presume,  and  I  send  with  it, 
as  ever,  my  undiminished  affection  to  you  all. 

"  For  THE  GENERAL, 

"J.  C.  R. 

"  Written  in  a  terrible  haste." 

This  was  immediately  followed  by  the  following  final 
days : — 

"  Saturday  : — 

Noon.    Interview  with  Governor. 
5.0    p.m.     Interview  with  native  Christian  Committee. 
5.30  p.m.    Welcome  in  pandal;  a  large  temporary  structure 
capable  of  holding  people,  no  seating  being 
needed. 

"  Sunday  : — 

10.30  a.m.  Meeting  in  pandal. 

3.0    p.m.  Interview  with  Indian  Judge. 

6.0    p.m.  Meeting  in  pandal. 

"  Monday  : — 

1 0.0    a.m.    Visit  to  our  Institutions. 
3.0    p.m.    Visit  to  General  Assembly  Institute. 


142  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

5.30  p.m.     Drawing-room  Meeting. 

8.45  p.m.     Meeting  of  gentlemen  at  Town  Hall. 

The  Bombay  programme  further  included :  — 
"Tuesday:— 

7.0    a.m.     Visit  to  the  Leper  Asylum. 
Midday.     Visit  to  the  Gaekwar  of  Baroda. 
3.0    p.m.    Meeting  in  a  pandal. 
Evening.    Meeting  with  native  Christians. 

*'  Wednesday  : — 

8.0    a.m.    An  assembly  at  the  Institute. 

8.15  a.m.     Interview  with  a  solicitor. 

8.30  a.m.     Interview  with  a  Parsee  engineer. 

9.30  a.m.    Interview  with  Pressmen,  who  took  him  to  See 

hospital  for  animals. 
2.0    p.m.    Interview  with  gentleman,  who  took  him  to  see 

the  Victoria  Jubilee  Technical  Institute. 
4.30  p.m.     Reception  at  Mr.  Jamsetjee  Tatas. 
5.30  p.m.     Meeting  in  the  pandal. 
9.0    p.m.    Lecture  in  the  Framjee  Cowasjee  Institute  to 

Indian  gentlemen. 

**  Thursday  : — 

8.30  a.m.    Officers'  Meeting. 

3.45  p.m.     Officers'  Meeting. 

4.30  p.m.     Farewell  procession. 

5.30  p.m.    Farewell  Meeting  in  pandal. 

"Friday:— 

8.0    a.m.     Staff  Council. 

5.0    p.m.    Reception  at  Mr.  Cowasjee  Jehangiers. 

(This  was,   however,   abandoned  on  account 
of  Prince  Albert  Victor's  death.) 
"Saturday:      Sailed  for  Europe." 

Remembering  that  The  General  was  alr'eady  nearly  sixty- 
three  years  old,  such  programmes  in  India  might  well  . 
fatigue  him.  But  these  were  easy  days,  compared  with 
many  country  ones  of  this  journey,  during  which  he  trav- 
ersed Ceylon,  visited  South  India,  spoke  to  some  8,000 
Syrian  Christians,  and,  calling  at  Madras  and  Calcutta, 
went  on  to  the  Punjab  and  Guzerat.  His  final  days  in  Bom- 
bay were,  as  we  have  seen,  clouded  by  a  bereavement  of 


INDIA  AND  DEVOTEES  143 

the  Royal  House.  But  to  his  telegram  to  the  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Wales  (now  King  George  and  Queen  Mary), 
he  got  the  cabled  reply : — 

"  Their  Royal  Highnesses'  thanks  for  your  prayers  and  sym- 
pathy." 

It  had  thus  already  been  seen  that  The  General's  plans  for 
India  were  answering  their  purpose.  It  became  possible  first 
to  march  large  parties  through  various  tracts  of  country,  so 
impressing  thousands  in  a  few  days  more  than  the  isolated 
labours  of  the  best  individuals  could  have  done  in  the  course 
of  years,  and  then  it  came  to  learn  later  from  Officers 
placed  amongst  them.  All  this  The  General  knew  could 
not  mean  all  that  it  would  have  meant  amongst  peoples 
who  understood  more  perfectly  our  teachings;  but  he  saw 
no  reason  for  not  making  the  most  of  such  incidents.  Why 
not  abandon,  so  far  as  such  people  were  concerned,  our 
system  elsewhere,  and  recognise  them  as  "  Adherents," 
leaving  them  to  learn  after,  from  Officers  placed  amongst 
them,  all  that  was  necessary  for  them  to  become  Salvation 
Soldiers.  By  this  plan  we  avoided  any  watering-down  of 
our  teachings  or  requirements,  and  yet  those  who  were 
not  fit  to  be  enrolled  in  our  ranks  were  able,  so  far  as 
they  chose,  to  abandon  idolatry  and  every  evil  practice,  to 
get  the  advantages  of  Christian  schooling  for  their  chil- 
dren, and  generally  to  improve  themselves,  under  our  in- 
fluence. 

Famines,  epidemics  of  cholera  and  plague,  and  other 
general  calamities  really  helped  us  to  increase  our  influ- 
ence in  various  districts.  We  gathered  many  orphans  and 
abandoned  children  and  brought  them  up  as  our  own,  whilst 
over  wide  tracts  of  country  the  people  learnt  to  look  upon 
us  as  a  family  of  "  brothers  born  for  adversity,"  whose 
help  could  be  relied  upon  not  merely  with  regard  to  heavenly 
but  to  earthly  things. 

The  barriers  of  caste,  which  bind  Indians  to  treat  each 
other  to  so  large  an  extent  as  if  they  were  enemies  are  nat- 
urally a  constant  and  serious  hindrance  to  us,  especially  as 
most  of  our  people  naturally  belong  to  the  lower  castes,  or 


144  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

are  even  outcasts.  And  our  plan  of  organisation  has  helped 
us  wonderfully  in  this  matter,  for  the  villager  of  Guzerat, 
or  Ceylon,  who  might  be  very  greatly  hampered  amongst 
his  own  natural  surroundings,  may  be  placed  in  an  in- 
finitely better  position  in  some  other  part  of  the  country. 
Indians  are  marvellously  quick  at  learning  languages,  so 
that  we  need  seldom  hesitate  about  their  usefulness  in  any 
new  appointment  on  account  of  difference  of  language. 

And  thus  it  has  come  about  that  we  have  already,  after 
some  thirty  years'  work,  nearly  2,000  Indian  Officers,  as 
absolutely  devoted  to  the  service  of  Christ  as  any  of  their 
comrades  of  any  other  land.  And  the  forces  under  their 
command  have  shown  already  that  they  can  deal  effectively 
with  peoples  utterly  inaccessible  to  the  ordinary  Europeans. 

The  Bheels,  when  we  first  went  amongst  them,  were  all 
armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  living  entirely  by  the  chase, 
and  so  terrified  at  any  sign  of  officialism  that  our  Officers 
had  to  avoid  taking  a  scrap  of  paper  with  them  when  visit- 
ing their  districts.  But  we  have  now  many  Bheel  villages 
entirely  under  our  teaching,  and  quite  a  number  of  Bheel 
Officers  who  have  learnt  to  read  their  own  language,  and 
to  lead  their  countrymen  as  fully  to  follow  Christ  as  they 
do  themselves. 

So  many  of  our  people  in  Guzerat  were  weavers  that  one 
Officer  set  himself  specially  to  the  task  of  improving  their 
loom.  He  was  soon  able  to  make  one  with  which  they 
could  double  their  daily  product.  The  making  of  these 
looms  created  a  new  industry,  also,  so  that  we  have  been 
able  thus  to  help  many.  In  India  we  have  also  commenced 
in  three  of  our  Territories  medical  work,  making  it,  after 
first  cost  of  buildings,  equipment,  and  Staff,  largely  self- 
supporting,  as  we  found  that  the  people  really  appreciated 
help  more  for  which  they  were  called  upon  to  make  ever 
so  small  a  return. 

In  the  same  way,  respecting  all  our  work,  The  General 
has  always  urged  the  importance  of  applying,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, our  general  rule  of  self-support ;  for  though  the  people 
may  have  very  little  to  give,  the  very  least  they  can  do  helps 
to  protect  us  from  the  prejudice  created  by  the  term  "  rice 


INDIA  AND  DEVOTEES  145 

Christians/'  applied  to  those  who  are  believed  to  have  made 
professions  of  Christianity  for  the  sake  of  the  food  they 
hope  to  receive. 

And  now  the  Government,  having  seen  the  practical  effect 
of  our  work,  are  beginning  to  give  us  opportunities  such 
as  we  never  had  before.  The  Doms,  a  tribe  systematically 
trained  to  live  by  thieving,  were  placed  under  our  special 
care,  and  the  result  was  such  as  to  lead  to  our  having  other 
unmanageables  likewise  given  over  to  us.  In  fact,  we  are 
barely  now  beginning  to  reap  in  India  what  in  twenty-eight 
arduous  years  had  been  sown. 

Does  some  one  ask,  Where  does  The  General's  own  hand 
appear  in  much  of  this?  Is  it  not  all  rather  due  to  his 
having  from  the  beginning,  had  so  able  a  helper,  acquainted 
with  the  languages  and  mental  habits  of  the  country,  and 
other  exceptionally  able  Officers  both  here  and  there? 

Even  if  it  were  so,  I  should  ask  how  all  these  people  of 
ability  placed  themselves  so  absolutely  at  The  General's 
disposal  as  to  wish  to  spend  all  their  lives  under  his  direc- 
tion in  the  greatest  poverty  in  that  far-away  land?  And 
I  should  inquire,  further,  how  it  came  to  pass  that  British, 
French,  American,  Swedish,  Swiss,  Dutch,  and  others  could 
be  got  to  submit,  not  only  to  work  in  union  under  the  same 
"  iron "  regulations,  but  often  under  the  leadership  of 
women,  and  often  under  that  of  Indian  Staff  Officers? 
Who  else  but  General  Booth  has  ever  attempted  to  place 
under  command  of  a  woman  a  missionary  work,  carried  on 
largely  by  men,  over  a  territory  larger  and  more  populous 
than  the  United  Kingdom  ?  Yet,  undoubtedly,  nothing  has 
more  contributed  to  the  success  of  our  work  in  a  country 
where  women  have  been  so  largely  repressed,  as  the  fact 
that  The  Army  has  thus  demonstrated  its  confidence  in 
God's  power  to  lift  up  the  weakest  to  the  uttermost  degree. 

Nobody  who  reflects  on  these  things  will  dispute  that 
whatever  The  Army  has  done  for  India  has  been  due  most 
of  all  to  its  first  General.  And  so  surely  as  the  knowledge 
of  what  is  already  done  grows,  shall  we  be  allowed  to  do 
more  and  more  to  show  India  what  Christ  really  desires, 
and  so  to  capture  it  for  Him. 


146  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

In  connexion  with  all  our  Indian  work,  one  vastly  im- 
portant part  of  The  General's  work  comes  ever  before  us, 
whether  we  think  of  Commissioner  Booth-Tucker  or  of  one 
of  his  humblest  native  helpers. 

Commonly  enough  in  recent  times  The  General  was  hon- 
oured because  he  had  won  from  the  path  of  vice  to  that  of 
virtue  some  notorious  sinner.  But  did  he  not  even  more 
remarkably  earn  the  general  gratitude  by  changing  the  com- 
paratively helpless  and  uninfluential,  though  well-meaning, 
into  enterprising  and  widely  useful  leaders  in  good  worki^ 
How  many  millions  of  people  he  has  taught  or  urged  to 
sing:— 

Were  the  whole  realm  of  nature  mine, 

That  were  a  present  far  too  small; 
Love  so  amazing,  so  divine, 

Demands  my  soul,  my  life,  my  all. 

That  grand  verse  was  well  known  in  this  country,  and 
widely  sung,  of  course,  long  before  he  was  born.  But  alas! 
how  many  sing  it  even  now  "  with  the  understanding  "  ? 

How  many  thousands  of  choice  spirits  first  learnt,  under 
The  General's  direction,  to  look  fairly  at  the  immensity  of 
their  responsibility  to  God,  as  they  sang  that  and  similar 
verses?  And  how  many  only  found  out,  as  ever-widening 
responsibilities  were  pressed  upon  them,  how  great  their 
"  all  '^  really  could  become.  The  humble  labourer,  without 
any  great  speaking  ability,  and  often  involved  in  a  struggle 
to  earn  the  barest  livelihood  for  himself  and  family,  was 
taught  how  to  share  in  seeking  the  Salvation  of  men.  To- 
day he  has  become  a  well-known  benefactor  in  one  way  or 
another  to  thousands  of  his  fellow-townsmen,  and  his  chil- 
dren, in  the  Far  East  or  West,  are  helping  to  realise  his 
grandest  thoughts  of  winning  the  whole  world  for  God. 

This  result  would  never  have  come  about  simply  by  the 
reading  and  singing  of  the  most  beautiful  words.  But  the 
man  who  was  first  of  all  made  responsible,  perhaps,  only 
for  the  keeping  of  a  Hall  door,  learnt  with  astonishing 
rapidity  how  much  our  common  life  could  accomplish  for 
God,  and  went  on  expanding  in  thought  and  purpose,  as  his 
responsibilities  were  increased,  until  he  became  not  merely 


INDIA  AND  DEVOTEES  147 

a  local  leader  in  every  form  of  Salvationist  effort,  but  a 
foreman  or  tradesman  exercising  a  widespread  influence 
amongst  his  fellow-townsmen  for  all  that  is  good,  and  urg- 
ing thousands  of  a  younger  generation  forward  in  every 
way,  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  advancement  of  their 
country. 

Such  development,  when  it  comes  to  be  applied,  say,  to 
an  educated  lady,  produces  one  of  those  wise  mothers  of 
mankind  whose  practical  counsels  and  help  are  being  sought 
by  the  greatest  cities  in  these  days,  when  men  have  found 
out  what  largeness  of  both  heart  and  understanding  are 
often  to  be  found  under  a  Salvation  Army  bonnet. 


Chapter  XVI 

SOUTH  AFRICA  AND  COLONISATION 

The  General  visited  South  Africa  three  times — in  1891, 
1895,  and  1908. 

His  visits  were  very  largely  dominated,  as  will  be  seen, 
by  the  idea  that  in  South  Africa  good  and  abundant  space 
could  be  found  for  Over-Sea  Colonies;  enough  space,  in 
fact,  to  accommodate  all  the  surplus  population  of  England. 

The  following  extract  from  the  record  of  his  first  jour- 
ney is  taken,  in  the  main,  from  one  of  his  "  letters  to  my 
children/'  dated  from  Kimberley: — 

"The  afternoon  Meeting  was  a  select  gathering,  with  the 
Mayor  in  the  chair.  Most  of  the  ministers  of  the  district  were 
present.  I  talked  with  freedom,  questions  were  proposed,  and 
I  carried  the  audience  with  me. 

"At  night  we  had  a  Social  Meeting  in  the  amphitheatre, 
which  was  well  filled.  The  ex-Mayor  presided.  I  do  not  know 
how  long  I  talked,  but  they  say  two  hours.  Everybody  was 
much  interested.  The  doctor  with  whom  I  was  staying,  and 
a  brother  physician,  came  into  the  house  and  thanked  me  for 
my  'magnificent  speech,'  giving  £5  to  the  fund  for  which  we 
were  collecting. 

"I  was  very  glad  to  get  to  bed,  and  to  find  that  I  had  not 
taken  a  serious  cold,  for  everything  was  open  behind  me  in 
the  theatre,  and  the  night  was  piercingly  cold,  whilst  I  perspired 
with  the  exertion  of  speaking,  and  felt  the  wind  blowing  at  my 
back,  striking  me  like  a  wet  blanket.     I  was  very  tired. 

"  Tuesday, — Officers'  Meetings  all  day.  If  I  had  been  pleased 
with  what  I  saw  of  the  Officers  before,  I  was  more  so  to-day. 
Their  eagerness  to  hear,  and  quickness  to  understand,  the  readi- 
ness with  which  they  assented  to  every  call  and  everything  laid 
before  them,  was  delightful.  No  body  of  men  more  simple  or 
apparently  ready  for  action  ever  sat  before  me. 

"At  night  I  endeavoured  to  deal  with  their  hearts,  making 
clear  what  a  full  consecration  to  the  War  included,  and  ap- 

148 


SOUTH  AFRICA  AND  COLONISATION        149 

pealing  to  them  for  it.  I  don't  think  I  ever  gave  a  more  heart- 
searching  address,  and  it  awoke  a  solemn  feeling,  almost 
amounting  to  gloom,  which  settled  down  upon  every  soul.  You 
could  see  it  in  their  faces.  The  knife  of  conviction  pierced 
them  through  and  through,  as  I  called  up  the  particulars  in 
which  they  came  short  of  that  life  of  love,  sacrifice,  and  service 
which  the  War  demanded.  We  then  cleared  the  decks,  inviting 
those  who  felt  condemned  in  regard  to  the  past,  and  who  were 
willing  to  make  the  surrender,  to  come  out.  The  first  to  roll 
up  was  about  as  handsome  a  fellow  as  I  ever  saw,  a  Cornish- 
man,  who  fell  down  and  began  to  cry  out  aloud  to  God.  Others 
followed,  and  before  we  finished  I  suppose  we  should  have 
nearly  seventy  down,  row  after  row,  sincere,  beautiful  cases. 
Some  of  the  testimonies  that  followed  were  delightful.  T.  was 
one  of  the  first  to  come  out,  and  he  confessed  down  to  the 
ground,  and  wept  like  a  child,  the  whole  audience  being  much 
moved.  It  was  ten  o'clock  when  I  got  home,  having  talked 
nearly  seven  hours,  and  I  was  glad  to  get  to  bed. 

"Wednesday. — Officers'  Meeting  in  the  morning.  A  very 
precious  time  on  matters  of  detail,  which  I  believe  helped  the 
Officers  very  much." 

Only  those  who  thoroughly  take  in  the  meaning  of  these 
Officers*  Meetings  can  hope  to  understand  The  Generars 
hold  upon  The  Army,  or  the  value  of  his  various  journeys, 
for  such  Meetings  had  far  more  to  do  with  the  success  of 
his  work  than  any  of  his  great  public  gatherings.  He  fre- 
quently uses  the  word  "  simple "  in  describing  Officers, 
meaning  men  who  have  not  got  so  much  puffed  up  by  ap- 
plause as  to  be  incapable  of  seeing  their  defects,  and  learn- 
ing how  to  do  better. 

Can  it  be  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  that  in  The 
Army  no  distinctions  of  race,  country,  age  or  colour  exist, 
so  far  as  Officers  are  concerned?  When  it  is  inevitable  to 
have  together  in  one  Officers'  Meeting  groups  who  do  not 
speak  the  language  chiefly  employed,  some  one  of  their  num- 
ber is  so  placed  amongst  the  group  as  to  be  able  to  translate 
to  them  The  General's  addresses. 

Here  we  have  a  gathering  of  men  and  women  from  near 
and  far,  most  of  whom  must  needs  carry  on  their  work 
amidst  small  communities  living  very  widely  apart,  and 


150  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

where  they  could  very  rarely  see  another  Officer,  or  be  vis- 
ited by  any  leader.  To  bring  all  these  up  before  the 
tribunal  of  their  own  consciences  as  to  the  extent  to  which 
they  had  discharged  all  the  obligations  they  took  upon  them 
when  they  first  engaged  to  form  and  lead  on  the  forces 
whose  duties,  in  so  vast  a  territory,  must  be  too  varied  and 
too  difficult  to  prescribe  by  any  fixed  routine,  could  not  but 
be  of  priceless  value.  Would  to  God  that  all  persons  en- 
gaged in  missionary  work  were  periodically  passed  through 
such  examinations,  by  fire!  How  easily  may  any  one  in 
such  solitary  spheres  yield  to  discouragement,  or  to  some 
ill-feeling  towards  a  predecessor  in  the  same  appointment, 
or  towards  some  leader  who  has  not  seemed  sympathetic 
enough ! 

Remembering  that  each  of  these  has  to  go  back  to  some 
position  of  lonely  toil,  with  no  guarantee  of  salary,  and  no 
prospect  of  improving  circumstances,  in  a  country  whose 
large  towns  could  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand, 
you  can  understand  the  supreme  importance  and  the  after- 
effect of  such  Meetings.     The  letter  goes  on: — 

"  On  this  and  the  previous  day,  my  host,  the  Doctor,  had 
invited  guests  to  meet  me  at  luncheon.  Yesterday  we  had  the 
ministers,  who  were  mostly  very  friendly  and  sympathetic.  As 
the  Doctor  put  it,  *  To-day  we  had  the  sinners,'  who  he  reckoned 
were  by  far  the  most  enjoyable — ^Judges,  Commissioners  of 
Crown  Lands,  etc.  All  were  very  respectful,  and,  to  say  the 
least  of  it,  were  in  sympathy  with  my  Social  scheme,  if  not 
actually  having  strong  faith  in  its  success. 

"  I  had  some  further  conversation  with  a  member  of  the 
South  African  Cabinet,  who  said  he  was  on  the  most  intimate 
terms  both  with  the  leaders  of  the  Afrikander  Bund,  and  with 
Mr.  Rhodes.  He  was  quite  sure  that  however  any  one  from 
political  motives,  might  disguise  their  feelings,  they  were 
equally  in  sympathy  with  me.  We  had  some  conversation  aS 
to  the  co-operation  of  the  authorities,  supposing  lazy  people 
turned  out  unwilling  to  carry  out  the  engagements  they  might 
sign  in  England.  He  said  he  felt  sure  if  anything  were  want- 
ing in  present  law  to  ensure  authority  being  respected,  that  it 
would  readily  be  remedied." 

This  has  reference  to  the  scheme  of  an  Over-Sea  Colony 


SOUTH  AFRICA  AND  COLONISATION        151 

in  South  Africa  with  which  The  General  had  been  occupied 
ever  since  1890.  He,  of  course,  always  foresaw  the  risk 
that  persons,  who  were  sent  out  in  connexion  with  such  a 
plan,  might  see  in  the  colonies  an  easier  career  than  that  of 
the  cultivation  of  land,  and  that  there  must  needs  be  some 
assurance  of  their  being  held  to  their  agreement  in  any  such 
case.     He  goes  on: — 

"At  night,  Farewell  Meeting  in  the  amphitheatre.  It  was  a 
considerable  strain  on  me,  as  I  hadn't  a  minute  to  prepare.  I 
had  promised  myself  a  couple  of  hours  in  the  afternoon,  when 
some  Dutch  ministers  came  down  upon  me  to  open  a  Y.  W.  C.  A. 
building  that  they  had  just  converted  from  a  low  public-house 
at  Beaconsfield  a  suburb  of  Kimberley.  If  I  would  only  go  for 
half  an  hour  they  would  be  so  grateful.  I  couldn't  refuse,  so 
my  bit  of  leisure  was  seized  upon. 

"  However,  we  had  a  very  good  Meeting.  We  were  nearly 
full.  I  made  a  new  speech  which  went,  I  thought,  with  con- 
siderable power,  and  then  commissioned  separate  detachments 
for  operations  amongst  the  Zulus  and  Swazis — outriders  for 
the  Orange  Free  State,  and  Officers  for  various  branches  of 
Social  Work.  The  leaders  of  each  detachment  spoke  very  well 
indeed.     Promising  fellows,  all  of  them. 

"At  the  close  of  the  public  Meeting  I  had  to  have  another 
for  Soldiers,  Officers,  and  Auxiliaries.  This  I  was  compelled 
to  conclude  earlier  than  I  should  otherwise  have  done  by  the 
announcement  that  the  electric  light  would  soon  give  out.  How- 
ever, we  had  a  very  nice  finish,  and  I  got  to  bed  about  11.30. 

"  Thursday. — Breakfast  with  the  Staff  Officers  at  8.  An 
hour  and  three-quarters'  good  straight  talk  afterwards  with 
beautiful  influence,  everybody  so  tender.  At  the  close  I  said, 
*  Now  let  us  kneel  down,'  and  after  a  little  prayer  asked  them 
to  link  hands  with  me,  and  let  us  give  ourselves  up  again  to 
Jesus  for  the  service  of  God  and  The  Army." 

Such  tender-hearted  linkings  together  of  those  who  have 
the  leadership  of  The  Army's  various  departments  have 
alone  prevented  the  separations  of  heart  that  must  inevita- 
bly be  threatened  wherever  a  number  of  very  strong-willed 
men  and  women  are  engaged  in  labours  into  which  they 
throw  their  whole  soul,  and  in  which  they  cannot,  perhaps 
should  not,  avoid  the  feeling  that  their  own  department  is. 


152  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

after  all,  the  most  important  in  the  world.  But  any  one 
who  thinks  will  understand  how  men  and  women  so  blended 
together  in  fellowship  with  God  and  each  other  have  been 
able  to  override  all  contrary  influences  in  every  country. 

"E.  (the  leader  of  our  Work  in  South  Africa)  then  turned 
to  me"  (the  letter  goes  on)  "and  made  a  few  appropriate 
remarks  about  his  own  devotion  to  The  Army,  and  on  behalf 
of  every  Officer,  present  and  absent,  assured  me  that  they  loved 
The  Army  as  it  was,  and  did  not  want  any  alterations  in  Orders 
or  Regulations,  and  were  prepared  to  live  and  die  in  the  War. 
I  don't  remember  anything  more  tender  and  affecting  on  the 
conclusion  of  a  Council. 

"  I  shook  hands  all  round  and  we  parted.  God  bless  them. 
I  made  a  hasty  call  at  the  Rescue  Home,  and  was  very  pleased 
with  it — a  really  nice  little  place. 

"  The  platform  at  the  station  was  crowded.  A  passage  was 
made  for  me ;  but  I  readily  reached  the  compartment,  and  hav- 
ing five  minutes  or  so  made  a  little  speech,  which  was  received 
with  volley  after  volley,  and  cheer  after  cheer.  There  was  a 
good  deal  of  handshaking,  any  number  of  *  God  bless  you's,' 
and  the  train  bore  me  away  from  a  people  with  whom  I  have 
certainly  had  a  really  hearty  and  happy  fellowship. 

"  I  should  have  said  that,  by  request  of  my  host,  I  went 
through  a  kind  of  board  school,  in  a  very  commodious  and  suit- 
able building.  I  saw  room  after  room  so  far  as  I  could  judge 
of  the  happiest,  healthiest,  and  I  might  say,  most  beautiful  lot 
of  children  it  was  ever  my  privilege  to  see.  They  ought  to 
make  a  splendid  body  of  men  and  women  for  the  future. 

"  Friday. — I  did  not  get  on  very  well  last  night  with  the 
'plank  bed'  or  shelf  which  was  dignified  with  the  name  of  a 
sleeping  berth.  There  was  very  little  spring  and  no  cushion. 
Moreover,  I  had  heartburn.  It  was  a  cold  night,  and  altogether 
I  was  glad  when  daylight  came.  The  sun  came  out,  and  it  was 
just  as  hot  by  noon  as  it  had  been  cold  at  night. 

"  We  stopped  at  Cradock  a  little  time,  where  a  gentleman  in- 
terviewed me  with  regard  to  80,000  acres  of  land  possessed  by 
some  syndicate  of  the  town  at  Prieska,  up  beyond  Kimberley. 
This  kind  of  thing  happens  almost  every  day. 

"  At  a  station  a  little  further  on  quite  a  crowd  of  Salvationists 
and  others  had  gathered.  I  could  not  see  any  sign  of  a  town 
beyond  two  or  three  shanties.  I  used  to  think  some  of  the 
places  that  had  been  dignified  by  the  name  of  *  cities '  in  Canada 


SOUTH  AFRICA  AND  COLONISATION        153 

were  rather  grotesque;  but  here  it  is  carried  to  a  greater  ex- 
treme. However,  they  must  have  some  method  of  distinguish- 
ing the  place  of  ingress  and  egress  from  the  train,  and  per- 
haps they  are  named  in  the  hope  of  becoming  what  they  are 
said  to  be — things  that  are  spoken  of  as  if  they  were. 

"  Well,  on  the  platform  was  as  picturesque  and  motley  a 
crowd  as  well  could  be  imagined.  I  only  wished  at  the  moment 
the  pencil  of  some  artist  had  been  there  to  have  painted  the 
Kafirs  in  their  showy  turbans  and  half-naked  bodies,  the  women 
with  babies  on  their  backs,  and  the  whites  of  various  ranks  and 
conditions,  all  mixed  up  with  Salvationists.  Among  others  was 
a  Salvationist  old  woman,  half-caste,  who  had  trudged  over  the 
mountain  fourteen  miles  from  Somerset  East,  with  a  big  drum 
over  her  shoulders,  travelling  during  the  night  in  order  to  get 
a  glimpse  of  The  General.  All  at  once,  whilst  the  people  stared, 
she  struck  up  a  lively  chorus,  leading  the  singing,  and  beating 
the  drum  most  vigorously.  Then  followed  the  choruses :  *  No, 
we  never,  never,  never  will  give  in,'  *  Never  say  die,'  and 
*  Steadily  keep  advancing,'  etc.  I  beckoned  to  her,  shook  hands 
with  her,  wrote  her  name  in  a  copy  of  Aggressive  Christianity 
in  the  presence  of  the  crowd,  and  gave  it  to  her,  all  of  which 
was  interpreted  to  her,  as  she  spoke  only  Dutch.  Then  she 
wound  up  in  good  English  with  *  Victory  for  me,  through  th^ 
Blood  of  Christ  my  Saviour/  The  little  scene  altogether  was 
very  striking." 

Yes,  surely  that  scene  was  striking  for  every  one,  and 
for  evermore.  That  union  of  races  and  languages  to  the 
glory  of  Christ,  and  for  the  highest  well-being  of  the  whole 
world;  that  valuing  of  the  humblest  true  Soldier  of  the 
Cross  above  all  the  great  ones  of  this  world,  accounts  for 
the  creation,  maintenance,  and  spread  of  The  Army 
wherever  they  are  seen. 

The  following  report  of  one  of  his  Meetings  with  the 
natives  fairly  represents  one  of  them : — 

"  The  room  could  not  contain  the  people  who  wished  to  listen 
to  the  General.  Dark  faces  were  to  be  seen  at  every  window. 
The  General  did  not  talk  at  them,  but  he  talked  into  them,  and 
their  close  attention  and  many  *  Amen ! '  showed  that  he  was 
well  understood.  No  sooner  had  he  ceased  talking  than  the 
mercy-seat  was  filled,  and  at  least  a  hundred  came  to  Christ 


154  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

to  seek  deliverance  from  sin,  and  the  supplying  of  their  hearts' 
needs.  Amongst  the  number  were  eight  or  nine  women  from 
Central  Africa;  they  had  been  brought  down  for  immoral  pur- 
poses, but  the  Army  had  got  hold  of  them  and  rescued  them. 

"Ere  the  General  turned  away  he  gave  them  still  further 
advice  as  follows: 

"  *  My  heart  is  drawn  out  to  you.  I  am  going  a  long  way  off, 
but  I  want  you  to  think  of  me,  and  when  you  think  of  me,  I 
want  you  to  pray  for  me.  Be  decided  to  fight  for  Jesus.  God 
will  be  on  your  side.  Go  in  and  get  all  your  people  saved,  and 
be  the  friends  of  all.  Before  I  go  I  should  like  to  know  who 
have  made  up  their  minds  to  trust  God,' — and  up  went  a  hun- 
dred hands.  'That's  right.  Now  all  who  have  made  up  their 
minds  to  meet  me  in  Heaven  raise  their  hands  again ' — and 
once  more  every  hand  went  up,  this  time  accompanied  by  a 
tremendous  shout." 

These  journeys  to  South  Africa  were,  indeed,  taken  to- 
gether, amongst  the  most  painful  lessons  of  The  General's 
life  as  to  the  smallness  of  hope  from  the  great  ones  of  this 
world.  The  first  visit,  paid  on  the  swell  of  the  first  admira- 
tion for  the  "  Darkest  England  "  Scheme,  filled  him  with 
great  expectations;  and  no  wonder,  for  everywhere  at  that 
time  Governments,  municipalities,  and  wealthy  magnates 
talked  as  if  they  were  ready  to  assist  him  immediately  to 
place  the  deserving,  though  poor,  crowds  of  the  Old  Coun- 
try on  the  magnificent  tracts  of  land  he  saw  everywhere  un- 
occupied, or  very  slightly  used. 

But  "  Governments  "  of  the  elected  type  come  and  go, 
making  the  most  lavish  promises  and  denouncing  "  the 
other  party,"  who,  on  turning  them  out,  do  ditto.  And  so 
it  came  to  pass  that  The  General  made  his  third  journey  to 
South  Africa,  in  1908,  when  seventy-nine  years  of  age. 
His  life  ran  serious  risk,  because  his  going  to  Rhodesia 
himself  was  considered  indispensable  in  order  so  to  impress 
some  British  or  South  African  *'  statesmen "  that  they 
might  give  him  the  needed  help  to  establish  an  Over-Sea 
Colony  there.     And,  then,  all  the  '*  statesmen  "  denounced 

to  Colonel  Kitching  by  one  of  themselves  as  *'  a  set  of 

fools  "  say  that  "  nothing  can  be  done  at  present."  And 
the  old  man  returns  to  die  with  his  great  dream  unrealised. 


MRS.  BRAMWELL   BOOTH 


SOUTH  AFRICA  AND  COLONISATION        155 

The  following  account  of  one  journey  taken  by  Colonel 
Kitching  alone,  who  was  not  only  his  Secretary  but  his 
representative  in  many  directions  throughout  his  latest 
years,  shows  the  loving  willingness  of  an  Army  Secretary 
to  do  and  bear  anything  for  Christ's  sake,  and,  what  our 
Staff  Officers  generally  understand  by  the  words  "  inde- 
fatigable/' and  "  unconquerable  " : — 

"After   a   long  journey   of   thirty   hours   I   reached   

railway  station,  expecting,  in  the  virgin  simplicity  of  my  youth- 
ful mind,  to  find  his  place  within  sight — perhaps  across  a  couple 
of  stiles — instead  of  which  I  found  that  it  was  thirty-six  miles 
or  more — four  hours'  drive  in  a  Cape  cart.  The  only  *  boy '  at 
the  station  with  a  vehicle  was  engaged,  so  I  bade  him  come 
back  again  for  me  as  soon  as  he  had  got  rid  of  his  fare,  which 
he  did  in  something  over  an  hour,  although  he  had  said  he 
should  be  'back  in  a  second.'  When  he  did  come  he  was  un- 
willing to  take  me  without  his  baas'  leave,  so  we  set  off  to 
find  the  baas ;  he  was  not  at  his  house  nor  at  his  stable ;  he  might 
be  at  church.  I  went  and  routed  him  out  of  his  devotions, 
finally  bargaining  with  him  to  take  me  there  and  back  for  £3! 

"  Now    Mr.    's    *  farm '    comprises    some    eighteen    or 

twenty  different  farms,  of  which  about  160,000  acres  are  in 
one  block,  and  some  80,000  acres  more  in  three  or  four  sep- 
arate pieces.  Each  of  these  farms  is  managed  by  a  farmer 
who  is  responsible  to  the  top  manager,  who  also  has  charge  of 
one  of  the  individual  farms.  My  destination  was  a  farm  where 
Mr. was  believed  by  the  railway  people  to  be  that  day. 

"  The  first  half  of  the  ride  we  were  cooked  in  the  sun ;  then 

darkness  came  on — black  darkness;  then  some  ominous  drops 

of  rain,  which  were  soon  sheets  instead  of  drops,  and  such 

,      thunder  and  lightning  as  I  never  want  to  hear  or  see  again 

in  this  life. 

"I  was  afraid  we  should  get  lost  in  the  dark;  for,  although 
it  was  called  a  *main  road,'  it  was  in  reality  merely  a  track — 
not  that  in  many  places — with  any  amount  of  i  ft.,  2  ft.,  3  ft., 
and  4  ft.  holes  (no,  I  draw  the  line  at  the  3  ft.  holes,  upon  con- 
sideration) ;  but  my  driver,  who  dignified  himself  with  the  title 
of  'mail  contractor,'  was  sure  that  his  horses  could  find  the 
way  in  the  darkest  darkness,  as  they  do  the  journey  each  way 
twice  every  week.  But  when  the  darkness  got  so  dense  that 
we  could  not  even  see  the  horses  except  when  it  lightened,  even 


156  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

he  grew  doubtful,  remembered  that  he  himself  had  not  driven 
them  along  that  road  for  more  than  eight  months  (though  his 
boy  had  done),  and  he  thought  that  we  had  better  stand  still 
where  we  were  till  the  storm  was  over  and  the  moon  rose;  but 
I  knew  the  moon  would  not  rise  till  10.30,  and  we  were  already 
about  eighteen  miles  from  anywhere ! 

"  My  entreaties  that  he  should  proceed  met  with  success,  and 
the  result  that  we  lost  the  road  twice,  got  into  a  deep  hole  and 
capsized — the  whole  caboose. 

"When  at  last  we  reached  the  farm,  it  was  to  be  met  with 

the  announcement  that  Mr.  had  left  there  the  previous 

day,  and  was  believed  now  to  be  about  twenty-six  miles  (three 
hours  nearly)   further  on. 

"  I  was  soaked  to  the  skin,  as  hungry  as  a  hunter,  and  dead 
beat  into  the  bargain.  The  farm  manager  insisted  that  I  must 
stay  the  night — it  was  imposible  to  go  on  in  that  storm — and 
go  on  in  the  morning. 

"  This  is  a  little  world.     Mr.  had  mentioned  my  name 

in  speaking  to  him  of  The  General's  visit  to  Johannesburg,  and 
he  had  remembered  it  as  that  of  the  only  Salvation  Army 
Officer  from  whom  he  had  ever  received  a  letter.  Ten  years 
ago  or  more  he  had  addressed  some  inquiry  or  other  to  Head- 
quarters, and  I  had  written  him  in  reply. 

"  The  next  morning  I  drove  on  to ,  and  found  Mr.  

in  his  orchard.  He  had  not  received  The  General's  wire  saying 
I  was  coming  for  the  simple  reason  that,  not  wanting  to  be 
bothered  with  mails  or  telegrams  for  a  couple  of  days,  he  had 
instructed  the  post  office  people  to  forward  all  his  dispatches  to 
a  place  which  he  did  not  intend  to  go  until  the  next  day ! " 

If  public  receptions  at  railway  stations,  speeches  and  ad- 
dresses by  Governors,  Mayors,  and  Ministers,  and  Press 
eulogies  could  have  satisfied  him,  The  General  could  not 
but  have  been  delighted  w*ith  South  Africa,  as  the  follow- 
ing extracts  may  show.  In  The  Ladysmiih  Gazette  we 
read : — 

"  General  Booth  has  flashed  past  Ladysmith  like  a  meteor, 
but  I  am  inclined  to  think  he  has  left  a  trail  of  light  behind 
him.  It  is  fifteen  years  since  I  last  saw  the  Leader  of  The 
Salvation  Army.  Those  fifteen  years  have  made  but  little 
alteration  in  the  man.  There  is  the  same  old  Saxon  profile, 
the    same    storm-defying,    weather-beaten,    almost    eagle-eyed 


SOUTH  AFRICA  AND  COLONISATION        157 

features,  and  the  same  slightly  rasping,  but  intensely  interesting 
in  its  earnestness,  voice. 

"There  is  plenty  of  strength  still  in  that  patriarchal  figure, 
and  with  the  exception  of  a  slight  stoop  The  General  is  as 
vigorous  as  he  v^as  fifteen  years  ago.  In  appearance.  The 
General  reminded  myself  of  Canon  Kingsley.  They  have  the 
same  Anglo-Saxon,  falcon-like  features,  and  the  same  indomi- 
table energy  and  courage.  Canon  Kingsley  v^as  not  so  well  pro- 
vided with  hair  as  The  General;  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  could 
boast  of  a  more  prominent  nasal  organ.  Both  men  had  flash- 
ing eyes,  deeply-set  and  overhanging  eyebrows,  giving  force 
and  determination  to  the  face. 

"  Both  the  late  Canon  and  General  Booth  were  equally 
sturdy  specimens  of  Saxon  descent,  and  both  worked  for  the 
masses.  Canon  Kingsley,  as  he  would  admit  to-day,  was  before 
his  time,  and  in  aiding  the  Chartist  movement  made  a  fatal 
mistake.  Canon  Kingsley,  as  shown  in  Alton  Locke,  en- 
deavoured to  raise  the  masses  to  heights  attainable  only  by 
men  of  education  and  men  of  thought,  and  to-day  the  recoil  of 
that  pernicious  doctrine  is  being  felt. 

"  General  Booth  places  a  man  in  the  position  God  intended 
him  to  occupy,  and  if  the  man  can  raise  himself  higher  by 
strenuous  effort  then  well  and  good. 

"  The  Salvation  of  General  Booth  is  the  true  Salvation — ^the 
'Salvation  of  regeneration,  and  the  world's  thinkers  are  surely 
recognising  the  fact  that  The  Salvation  Army  is  a  factor  to  be 
reckoned  with.  General  Booth  and  his  people  have  succeeded 
when  all  others  have  failed." 

The  Rhodesia  Herald,  of  Salisbury,  said: — 

"  General  Booth  has  well  been  called  the  Grand  Old  Man  of 
The  Salvation  Army,  for  undoubtedly  it  is  his  remarkable  per- 
sonality and  fierce  energy  which  has  made  The  Army  what  it 
is  to-day,  and  has  enabled  it  to  do  a  work  which  no  other  re- 
ligious organisation  has  attempted  to  do  on  anything  like  the 
same  scale,  and  to  reach  a  section  of  the  people  who  remained 
untouched  by  the  more  orthodox  methods  of  other  bodies.  It 
is  not  so  very  many  years  ago  that  branches  of  The  Army  in 
many  towns  in  the  United  Kingdom  were  striving  to  make  head- 
way against  most  determined  opposition — opposition  employing 
methods  of  which  the  authors  soon  became  heartily  ashamed. 
Yet  to-day,  the  different  branches  of  The  Army  are  doing  their 
work,  not  only  unmolested,  but  helped  and  encouraged  by  all 


158  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

classes  of  the  community.  And  this  because  The  Army  has 
wrung  recognition  by  transparent  honesty  of  purpose,  and  un- 
ceasing efforts  to  help  those  most  in  need  of  help  and  encour- 
agement. As  the  aged  General  put  it  on  his  arrival  in  Johan- 
nesburg, the  Organisation  of  which  he  is  the  mainspring  has 
set  before  itself  the  task  of  giving  a  helping  hand  to  the  very 
poor,  those  who  are  without  friends,  and  those  who  have  fallen 
in  the  battle  of  life." 

The  members  of  the  Cape  Town  and  district  Evangel- 
ical Church  Council  in  their  address  to  General  William 
Booth,  D.C.L.,  said: — 

"  We  have  been  deeply  touched  by  the  energy,  the  wisdom, 
and  the  consecration  with  which  you  carry  on  your  work  at  a 
period  of  life  when  most  men  have  retired  from  active  service. 

"  We  would  join  with  our  brethren  of  the  Christian  Churches 
throughout  the  world  in  assuring  you  of  our  admiration,  mixed 
with  our  wonder,  at  the  success  which  has  attended  your 
labours  for  the  Salvation  of  the  most  helpless  and  degraded 
members  of  our  race. 

"  Hand  in  hand  with  your  efforts  for  the  Salvation  of  the 
souls  of  the  fallen  have  gone  a  true  Christlike  care  for  the 
bodies  of  the  unfortunate,  and  an  attempt  to  stem  the  current 
of  social  evil  and  degeneracy. 

"We  are  deeply  interested  in  your  experiments  in  colonising 
those  parts  of  our  Empire  which  are  at  present  sparsely  popu- 
lated, and  thus  relieving  the  tension  of  social  problems  in  the 
larger  cities  of  Great  Britain,  and  that  congestion  of  popula- 
tion which  is  a  fruitful  source  of  individual  and  of  social  deg- 
radation. 

"  We  trust  your  visit  to  South  Africa  may  result  in  the  settle- 
ment in  the  rich  lands  now  untilled  of  a  population,  which  by 
its  industry,  thrift,  and  character  will  compare  with  those  of 
Canada,  New  Zealand,  and  Australia. 

"We  rejoice  that  the  great  Captain  of  Salvation  continues 
to  lead  the  Organisation,  of  which  you  are  the  head  and  heart 
in  one,  to  great  victories  over  the  forces  of  evil,  and  assure  you 
that  in  this  land  we  recognise  The  Salvation  Army  as  a  power- 
ful force  for  the  spiritual  and  social  uplift  of  the  people.  It  is 
always  a  pleasure  for  the  Churches  we  represent  to  render  any 
aid  in  our  power  to  an  Organisation  for  whose  members  and 
whose  work  we  have  the  deepest  regard. 

"It  is  the  earnest  prayer  of  the  Council  that  your  visit  may 


SOUTH  AFRICA  AND  COLONISATION        159 

be  full  of  blessing  to  your  community,  that  it  may  result  in  a 
fresh  infusion  of  hope  and  enthusiasm  into  the  hearts  of  your 
fellow-workers,  and  that  God  may  abundantly  fill  you  with 
spiritual  and  physical  energy  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  great  en- 
terprise on  which  you  have  entered. 
"  August  26,  1908." 

The  address  of  the  Bloemfontein  Town  Council  very 
carefully  avoids  any  reference  to  the  proposed  Over-Sea 
Colony.  Perhaps  the  whole  secret  of  South  Africa's  in- 
difference to  it  is  revealed  in  the  following  extract  from  a 
paper,  whose  name  we  omit,  lest  any  appearance  of  hostility 
to  any  locality  or  any  element  in  that  enormous  country 
should  seem  to  have  crept  into  our  feelings  here. 

After  half  a  column  of  compliments  as  to  his  good  work 
and  intentions  the  editorial  gentleman,  not  of  Bloemfon- 
tein, goes  on  with  his  great  "  But  "  as  follows : — 

"  But  the  social  elevation,  or  the  spiritual  conversion  of  the 
boozy  scum  of  a  European  nation  may  not  be  advanced  at  the 
cost  of  the  well-being  of  our  own  people.  We  protest  most 
earnestly  against  that  at  once.  It  does  not  matter  whether  he 
has  fixed  his  eye  upon  Rhodesia  or  the  Kalahari  desert — these 
lands  belong  geographically  to  South  Africa,  and  we  need  it 
for  its  own  peoples.  True,  we  have  plenty  of  territory,  even 
for  others  who  may  wish  to  come  and  settle  amongst  us,  and 
wish  to  be  of  us. 

"  But  we  have  no  room  for  the  *  submerged  tenth '  of  any 
other  nation  whatever." 

In  vain  did  The  General  keep  explaining  in  every  land 
he  visited  that  he  had  never  thought  of,  or  made  any  plan 
for,  "  dumping ''  crowds  of  wastrels  on  any  country,  but 
only  such  people  as  had  been  tested  and  proved  fit  for  such 
an  opportunity  as  they  could  not  get  in  overcrowded  coun- 
tries. There  was  always  the  same  loud  and  continued  ap- 
plause for  "  his  noble  work,"  and,  then,  almost  everywhere 
— not  often  with  the  honest  outspokenness  of  that  news- 
paper— the  same  "  I  pray  thee  have  me  (my  country)  ex- 
cused from  receiving  this  Colony." 

And  then  the  old  man  would  give  the  tiny  handfuls  who, 
thanks  to  insane  constitutionalism,  have  been  left  to  monop- 


160  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

olise  vast  areas  of  the  earth,  warnings  of  the  future  that 
may  be  remembered  by  generations  to  come.  Whilst  in 
South  Africa  he  was  gladdened  by  receiving  the  following 
report  as  to  the  multitudes  he  was  sending  out  to  Canada : — 

"Emigrated  from  October,  1903,  to  July  31,  1908,  36,308; 
of  whom  were  assisted  by  loan,  9,400;  total  amounts  advanced, 
£38,375;  total  amounts  repaid  (within  first  five  years  already!)^ 
£5,112." 

But  as  to  South  Africa,  he  grasped  the  main  feature  of 
the  situation  there;  and  thus  wrote,  in  words  that  may  be 
remembered,  not  only  in  that  country,  when,  for  the  British 
Empire,  it  is  for  ever  too  late : — 

"  The  more  I  see  of  this  country,  the  more  I  am  convinced 
of  the  folly  of  the  controversy  that  prevails  in  some  minds,  and 
of  the  fears  that  are  entertained  about  the  predominance  of 
the  Dutch  element.  Before  many  years  have  passed  the  ques- 
tion will  not  be  as  to  what  nation  of  whites  shall  have  the 
mastery,  but  whether  the  whiles  will  have  any  mastery  at  all; 
not  whether  it  shall  be  Dutch  land  or  British  land,  but  whether 
it  shall  be  a  white  man's  land.  The  undisputed  growth  in  intel- 
ligence of  the  African  and  Indian  combined  will  soon  give  them 
so  great  a  preponderance  that  they  will  capture  the  agriculture 
and  trade  generally. 

"What  is  to  hinder  them  from  the  capture  of  the  mineral 
production,  and  the  mastery  of  the  country  in  general?  There 
is  only  one  way  for  the  white  man,  and  that  is  to  add  to  his 
numbers  such  as  will  join  him  in  the  struggle,  and  to  convert 
the  coloured  element  to  righteousness  and  truth  and  honesty 
and  industry. 

"  I  want  to  help  them,  but  they  cannot  see  far  enough. 

"  These  are  the  sentiments  that  ought  to  be  pressed  upon  the 
attention  of  our  government." 

Here  is  another  letter  which  is  valuable  especially  for 
the  light  it  gives  with  regard  to  The  General's  careful  ex- 
amination during  his  journeys  into  all  that  concerned  the 
efficiency  of  The  Army  and  of  every  leading  Officer  in  it: — 

"I  have  not  said  much  about  the  character  and  condition  of 
the  work  generally,  having  reserved  my  ideas  for  the  closing 
of  my  correspondence. 


SOUTH  AFRICA  AND  COLONISATION        161 

"In  a  general  way,  however,  I  will  make  a  few  observa- 
tions : — 

"  I.  The  Territory  must  certainly  be  in  better  form  than  it 
has  ever  been  before.  This,  considering  the  havoc  made  by 
the  war,  is  saying  a  good  deal.  There  are  more  Corps,  more 
Officers,  more  Soldiers,  plenty  of  money  to  meet  their  require- 
ments, and  as  much  favourable  public  opinion  as  is  good  for 
them,  perhaps  a  little  more. 

"  2.  So  far  as  we  have  had  opportunity  for  observation,  the 
Officers  and  Soldiers  appear  to  be  in  good  spirits. 

"  3.  Some  important  advances  are  under  consideration,  or  in 
progress,  in  the  direction  of  properties,  both  Social  and 
Spiritual. 

"4.  Several  very  remarkable  Revivals  have  taken  place. 

"  5.  The  Commissioner  appears  to  be  much  improved. 

"6.  The  more  I  see  of  the  more  I  like  him,  and  my 

impression  is  confirmed  that  he  is  a  long  way  the  best  man  in 
the  country  for  dealing  with  the  natives. 

"  7.  The  Commissioner  thinks  that  what  there  is  to  be  known 

as  to  cattle,  land,  products,  etc.,  is  known  to .    I  love  him 

very  much. 

"  8.  The  same  applies  very  largely  to  .    What  he  does 

know  he  may  know  better  than  ,  though  I  am  not  sure 

whether  his  knowledge  is  so  extensive. 

"9.  I  have  seen  little  of  ;  but  he  is  said  to  be  very  suc- 
cessful in  his  present  appointment.  Two  gentlemen  who  have 
been  inspecting  his  place  say  they  could  not  have  believed  that 
such  wonderful  results  could  have  been  achieved  in  so  unlikely 
a  place. 

"  10.  This  man,  ,  has  sat  on  the  platform,  and  prayed 

when  he  has  been  called  upon  to  pray ;  but  he  has  done  nothing 
more.  I  shall  instruct  K.,  I  think,  to  ask  him  a  few  questions, 
one  of  which  will  be  whether  he  is  willing  to  take  a  position  in 
another  part  of  the  world." 

Of  course,  I  am  only  snatching  such  sentences  as  convey 
the  main  ideas,  without  their  fuller  development,  which 
would  risk  indicating  the  persons  referred  to. 

Will  it  be  believed  that,  whilst  this  octogenarian  was 
toiling  in  the  heat  to  prepare  if  he  could  a  brighter  future 
for  some  of  the  poor,  a  syndicate  of  slanderers  in  London, 
some  well  educated,  some  of  the  Trafalgar  Square  bawler 


162  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

type,  were  seeking  to  bless  "  the  British  public  "  by  enlight- 
ening them  as  to  his  selfish  and  foolish  designs  upon  them  ? 
According  to  their  theories  his  every  new  scheme  was  only 
brought  forth  to  turn  aside  attention  from  his  entire  failure, 
and  ensure  a  continuous  flow  of  money  into  his  coffers! 

Perhaps,  the  best  feature  of  all  about  his  "  dreams ''  was 
that  they  never  became  less  cheery  for  all  that,  and  their 
continuously  increasing  infection  of  the  world,  despite  every 
attack. 

The  General  writes,  after  his  great  Meeting  with  some 
of  our  native  comrades  as  reported  in  connexion  with  his 
final  Congress: — 

"I  have  been  much  occupied,  as  I  have  already  told  you  I 
expected  to  be,  with  the  Native  Question;  and  I  am  satisfied 
that  one  of  the  greatest  things  ever  done  in  the  history  of  the 
world  can  be  done  here,  and  I  am  determined  to  make  an  at- 
tempt to  do  it. 

"  I  do  not  say  that  our  chance  is  greater  than  it  is  in  India — 
though  I  am  not  sure  whether  it  does  not  equal  it  in  many  ways. 
Anyway,  it  appears  to  me  that  it  is  open  to  us  to  realise  a 
mighty  success." 


Chapter  XVII 

JAPANESE  HEROISM 

Japan,  amidst  all  the  records  of  its  modern  progress,  must 
certainly  count  the  honour  of  having  properly  recognised 
the  value  of  The  General  and  his  Army  before  the  old 
"  Christian  "  countries  of  Europe  did  so. 

The  Army's  beginning  in  Japan  was  almost  laughable 
in  its  feebleness.  The  little  company  of  Officers  sent  out 
by  The  General,  in  1895,  were  indeed  truly  devoted,  and 
in  their  anxiety  to  be  from  the  first  "  as  Japanese  to  the 
Japanese,"  were  so  taken  in  whilst  halting  in  Hong  Kong 
that  they  landed  in  the  most  extraordinary  garments — and 
it  was  a  long  time  before  they  seemed  likely  to  make  any 
impression  upon  the  non-Christian  Japanese.  But  upon  the 
Christians  they,  undoubtedly,  made,  from  the  first,  an  ex- 
cellent mark. 

With  all  their  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  language,  there 
could  be  no  mistake  about  their  willingness  to  learn,  and 
to  be  the  servants  of  all  men.  It  was  clear  that  they  pos- 
sessed those  two  great  qualifications  for  Apostolic  success, 
an  unlimited  readiness  for  hard  work,  and  an  unbounded 
faith  in  the  will  and  power  of  Christ  to  save.  Their  first 
interpreter,  a  student  anxious  to  do  his  uttermost  for  Christ 
and  his  country,  was  speedily  won  over  completely  to  their 
side,  and  as  he  was  already  known  amongst  the  Pressmen, 
this  became  a  very  great  help  to  the  progress  of  their  work 
generally. 

Yet,  under  several  successive  leaders,  they  toiled  on  for 
some  years  with  but  little  prospect.  The  language  is  one 
of  the  most  difficult  imaginable  for  foreigners  to  learn,  and, 
although  there  was  from  the  first  great  liberty  as  to  Open- 
Air  Meetings,  and  congregations  were  gathered  outdoors 
and  into  the  little  Halls  that  were  contrived  out  of  shops 

163 


164  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

and  dwelling-houses,  it  seemed  likely  to  prove  slow  work 
to  raise  a  Japanese  force. 

But  all  at  once,  in  1902,  God  gave  the  little  company  a 
great  opportunity.  For  years  already  some  faithful  Japan- 
ese under  missionary  influences,  had  been  lamenting  the 
position  of  the  girls  given  over  to  immorality,  who  were 
severed  for  life  from  the  rest  of  the  community,  and  kept 
under  police  supervision,  in  a  special  quarter  called  the 
Yoshiwara  of  each  city,  as  well  as  cut  off  from  all  the  hopes 
of  the  Gospel.  A  law  had  indeed  been  passed  allowing 
such  girls  as  might  wish  to  abandon  their  aw^ful  calling  to 
do  so;  but  it  was  so  administered  as  practically  to  remain 
a  dead  letter. 

"  Why,''  thought  our  leaders,  "  should  we  not  issue  a 
special  edition  of  our  War  Cry,  explaining  Christ's  love 
and  power  to  save  the  deepest  sunken  in  sin,  and  our  Rescue 
Work,  and  then  go  and  sell  it  in  the  Yoshiwara  ?  " 

The  idea  was  carried  out,  and,  to  all  appearance,  the  first 
day,  with  wonderful  success.  The  great  companies  of 
pleasure-seekers  saw  in  the  "  Paper  "  a  novelty  of  interest 
and  bought  and  read  it  eagerly.  But  it  was  far  too  great 
a  success  to  please  the  brothel  keepers,  who  at  once  hired 
men  to  attack  The  War  Cry  sellers,  should  they  repeat  their 
invasion.  When  it  became  known  that  our  Officers  had 
thus  been  attacked,  reporters  of  the  Tokio  and  Yokohama 
papers  hurried  to  see  the,  for  Japan,  unusual  sight,  and 
then  the  whole  Press  of  the  country  came  out  strongly  on 
our  side.  We  were  fully  recognised  as  the  loving  friends 
of  the  friendless  and  oppressed,  and  from  that  day  our 
standing  in  the  country  was  assured. 

Not  many  girls  were  gathered  into  our  little  Rescue 
Home;  but  thousands  learnt  the  way  of  escape  from  their 
houses  of  bondage,  and  within  a  few  years  many  thousands 
returned  to  their  old  homes  all  over  the  country.  It  should 
be  explained  that  the  brothels  were  really  supplied  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  heroic  devotion  of  the  girls  to  their  parents  and 
homes.  It  was  common  for  a  girl,  in  any  time  of  extra 
want  or  destitution,  to  suggest  or  consent  to  her  sale  to  one 
of  the  bad  houses  for  the  relief  of  her  family.     This  fact, 


JAPANESE  HEROISM  165 

however,  of  course  increased  both  the  national  sympathy 
for  the  victims,  and  the  high  appreciation  of  our  care  for 
them. 

But  the  main  thing,  after  all,  in  all  this  action  was  the 
revelation  of  an  Army,  unable  as  yet  to  make  itself  well 
understood  in  words  but  capable  of  thus  manifesting  its 
resolution  to  fight  for  the  liberation  of  all  men  from  the 
power  of  sin. 

We  had  issued  already  a  Common  People's  Gospel,  writ- 
ten by  our  Chief  Secretary,  Colonel  "^amamuro,  which  gave 
a  very  clear  explanation  of  our  teachings  and  system.  This 
book  was  not  only  a  sort  of  harmony  of  the  Gospels,  but 
explained  how  we  understand  and  teach  the  Salvation 
Christ  bought  for  us  all.  This  Gospel  came  to  be  appre- 
ciated and  utilised  by  almost  all  the  missions  in  the  country, 
and  greatly  helped  us  also  in  making  clear  our  meaning  to 
the  nation.  By  its  sale,  as  well  as  that  of  The  War  Cry, 
throughout  the  country  very  many,  even  of  those  who  were 
too  far  off  for  it  to  be  possible  for  them  to  attend  any  of 
our  Meetings,  were  led  to  Christ. 

And  thus  steadily,  though  slowly,  we  made  our  way, 
until  we  had  Corps  in  most  of  the  great  cities,  and  became 
known  generally  wherever  there  were  thinking  and  reading 
people.  Our  Halls  were,  and  still  are,  very  small,  it  being 
almost  impossible  to  find  either  large  ones  hireable,  or  large 
spaces  available  for  building  upon,  in  the  great  cities.  Yet 
marvellous  were  the  displays  of  God's  power  to  save  in  the 
little  rooms,  which  were  packed  to  the  doors  night  after 
night,  and  in  the  Open-Air  Meetings.  Our  leaders  in  the 
country,  for  several  years,  were  Officers  w^o,  amidst  the 
multitudes  of  India,  or  of  the  slums  of  London  had  seen 
how  souls  could  be  won,  in  spite  of  every  outward  disad- 
vantage, by  the  irresistible  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And 
thus  the  numbers  of  our  Japanese  Soldiers  and  Officers 
steadily  grew.  Just  as  in  England,  men  who  had  been 
notorious  in  sin  became  equally  notorious  witnesses  for 
Jesus.  Japan  is  a  great  country  for  holiday  festivals,  when 
all  the  streets  are  by  day  beflagged  and  by  night  illuminated 
with  Chinese  lanterns,  almost  the  whole  population  turning 


166  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

out  on  such  occasions.  Our  troops  naturally  made  the  most 
of  such  days,  and  it  became  a  common  thing  to  see  men  and 
even  women  kneeling  in  an  Open-Air  Meeting  to  seek  Sal- 
vation. 

So  when  it  was  announced,  in  1907,  that  The  General 
was  coming,  Japan  resolved  to  give  him  a  welcome  such  as 
he  had  never  had  before.  That  a  man  should  undertake, 
at  seventy-eight  years  of  age,  such  a  journey,  was  felt  to 
be  a  tribute  both  to  the  country  and  to  the  man  himself,  and 
there  was  a  desire,  if  anything  more  in  non-Christian  than 
in  Christian  circles  to  hear  him,  and  do  him  honour. 

"  Tell  him,"  said  a  Tokio  editor,  '*  that  he  is  coming  to 
a  country  such  as  he  has  never  before  visited — which  can 
appreciate  self-sacrifice,  as  we  have  shown  in  the  late  war." 

And  from  the  moment  when  his  steamer  entered  Yoko- 
hama Harbour  to  that  of  his  departure,  nothing  was 
omitted  that  could  open  his  way  to  the  ears  and  hearts  of 
the  entire  nation.  I  had  the  pleasure  myself  to  witness 
those  unforgettable  scenes,  and  to  notice  The  General's  own 
astonishment  at  the  universal  interest  of  the  people.  In 
each  city  he  found  the  railway  station  decorated.  A  plat- 
form was  erected,  generally  in  some  public  space,  whence 
he  could  address  the  multitudes  who  came  out  to  hear  him. 
The  largest  public  buildings  were  crowded  for  his  indoor 
services,  and  hundreds  came  out  publicly  in  reply  to  his 
appeals  for  their  surrender  to  Christ. 

Not  only  was  he  received  by  the  late  Emperor  in  his 
palace,  and  welcomed  to  every  provincial  centre  by  the  Gov- 
ernors of  the  Provinces,  and  the  Mayors  of  the  Cities,  but 
again  and  again  the  most  eminent  men  gave  him  opportuni- 
ties to  plead  with  them  for  Christ.  What  a  sight  it  was  to 
see  the  great  platform  crowded  with  all  the  chief  men  of  a 
city,  singing  like  the  rest  of  the  audience  "  Stand  up,  stand 
up  for  Jesus."  The  General  was  accepted  by  almost  unani- 
mous consent,  as  representing  a  life  of  entire  self-abandon- 
ment to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Salvation  of  the  lost,  and 
far  beyond  anything  even  that  at  the  moment  appeared, 
was  his  Campaign  a  general  victory  for  the  Saviour. 

There  could  be  no  mistake  as  to  the  message  he  delivered, 


JAPANESE  HEROISM  167 

for,  even  to  the  vast  crowds  of  students  gathered  in  the 
quadrangle  of  the  University,  or  in  and  around  the  Theatre 
of  Kobe  to  hear  him,  he  stood  and  cried  in  no  new  terms, 
although  with  due  adaptation  to  their  ways  of  thought,  just 
as  he  might  have  cried  to  any  English  audience,  that  God 
demanded  and  deserved  a  whole-hearted,  life-long  service 
from  every  one. 

"  What?  "  asked  the  Ambassador  of  a  great  power,  "  Do 
you  really  want  me  to  come  out  on  to  the  stage  and  con- 
fess my  sins  before  everybody?''  when  a  woman-Officer 
invited  him  to  one  of  The  General's  last  Meetings.  Had 
His  Excellency  done  so,  no  Japanese  would  have  thought 
it  anything  beneath  the  highest  human  dignity,  for  they 
all  recognised  the  value  of  that  courage  for  Christ  and  His 
War  which  The  General  personified  to  them. 

We  are  still  few  in  number  and  struggling  hard  for  vic- 
tory in  Japan,  for  the  very  appreciation  of  all  that  is  excel- 
lent tends  to  create  in  the  people  a  self-satisfaction  that 
fortifies  them  against  all  appeals  for  repentance.  But  one 
of  the  leading  officials  of  the  Japanese  Home  Office  has 
recently  paid  a  tribute  to  The  General's  helpfulness  to  every 
people. 

Mr.  Tomioka  says,  in  his  Society  and  Humanity,  after 
having  studied  The  Army  in  England  and  America,  as  well 
as  in  Japan,  that  he  considers  it  to  be  "  the  greatest  and 
most  successful  Organisation  in  the  world  for  dealing  with 
and  helping  the  poor  and  unfortunate  classes  of  society." 
He  attributes  our  success  to  the  following  reasons : — 

1.  The  great  personality  of  The  General,  whose  char- 
acter greatly  resembled  that  of  his  Divine  Master — the 
Founder  of  Christianity. 

2.  Our  aggressive  spirit — ever  marching  on,  like  the 
Japanese  soldiers  in  the  last  war  with  Russia. 

3.  Our  adaptation  to  the  circumstances  of  every  coun- 

4.  Our  straightforward  and  practical  way  of  preach- 
ing Salvation. 

5.  Our  principle  of  self-support.  Teaching  men  and 
women  to  help  themselves. 


168  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

6.  Our  scientific  and  business-like  methods,  as  distinct 
from  mere  sentimentality. 

Some  day,  surely,  men  equally  eminent  in  other  countries 
will  begin  to  speak  as  heartily  and  thoughtfully  of  The  Gen- 
eral's lifework. 

That  the  great  Mikado,  to  whose  wisdom  and  energy 
Japan  owed  so  much  of  its  great  renewal  and  entry  amongst 
the  "  civilised  "  nations,  should  have  passed  into  eternity 
only  a  few  months  before  the  Founder  of  a  wider  and 
grander,  because  spiritual,  Empire,  is  an  interesting  fact. 
The  Mikado  received  our  General,  in  spite  of  every  court 
usage  that  might  have  hindered,  because  he  found  that  all 
the  greatest  leaders  and  heroes  of  Japan,  like  their  Press, 
saw  in  him  the  personification  of  the  highest  and  noblest 
purpose  for  every  land  and  every  people. 

The  Japanese  Government  gave  our  Ofificers,  women  as 
well  as  men,  a  liberty  of  access  to  their  prisoners  greater 
than  we  as  yet  possess  in  this  and  most  other  "  Christian  " 
countries,  because  they  saw  the  value  of  our  love  for  the 
victims  of  sin,  and  our  power,  by  God's  grace,  to  inspire 
them  with  hope  for  themselves.  How  many  more  years, 
I  wonder,  will  it  take  other  nations  to  follow  this  common- 
sense  example? 


Chapter  XVIII 

CO-OPERATING  WITH  GOVERNMENTS 

The  Government  of  the  Dutch  East  Indies,  which  was  in 
the  hands,  at  the  time,  of  a  miHtary  man,  has  won  for  ever 
the  honour  of  appreciating  and  utilising  The  Army  of  The 
General  they  had  never  seen,  before  any  of  those  who  had 
seen  him.  Certainly,  The  General  never  ran  after  earthly 
rulers,  or  showed  any  disposition  to  court  their  favour ;  but 
he  said  constantly,  "  Here  we  are ;  if  any  Government, 
municipal  or  national,  likes  to  use  us,  we  can  save  them 
more  than  half  of  what  they  now  spend  upon  their  poor 
and  criminal  classes,  and  do  for  these  far  more  than  Chris- 
tian Government  officials,  however  excellent,  ever  hope  to 
do.  They  are  invariably  so  bound  to  avoid  any  meddling 
with  religion  that  they  cannot  bring  to  bear  upon  those  most 
in  need  of  it,  the  heavenly  light  and  love  and  power,  in 
which  we  place  all  our  confidence  for  dealing  with  these 
classes." 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  a  Town  Councillor,  in  a  German  city, 
when  the  question  of  subsidising  The  Army  was  being  dis- 
cussed, "  The  Army  can  do  for  your  poor  what  you  never 
can  attempt.  You  can  only  deal  with  them  from  without. 
The  Army  works  upon  them  from  within,  and  produces 
results  that  will  considerably  lighten  your  burdens." 

The  General  had  arranged  for  the  Dutch  Indies  to  be 
missioned  from  Australia,  that  country  being  our  nearest 
Field  and  one  accustomed  to  deal  with  pioneer  effort. 
But  when  he  found  that  Dutch  officialdom  dreaded  contact 
with  British  agents,  though  ready  to  welcome  Dutch  ones, 
he  very  quickly  changed  his  plans,  and  as  soon  as  the 
Colonial  Government  found  that  The  Army  was  as  much 
Dutch  as  English,  and  could  send  them  a  Dutch  leader,  they 
showed  themselves  ready  to  use  us  as  fully  as  possible. 

169 


170  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

Our  Officers  in  every  town  and  village  are  supplied  with 
all  the  medicines  and  bandages  they  can  use,  for  the  Gov- 
ernment has  found  that  they  live  amongst  the  poorest  all 
the  time,  and  are  always  ready  to  bathe  and  bandage  their 
wounded  limbs  and  feet,  or  to  give  them  the  few  medicines 
needed  to  combat  the  ordinary  maladies.  Moreover,  from 
some  terrible  losses  by  death  of  Officers,  in  our  earliest 
years  there,  it  was  made  only  too  plain  to  every  one  that 
our  Officers  would  not  abandon  their  people  in  times  of 
cholera  or  other  epidemics,  but  would  rather  suffer  and  die 
with  them. 

More  unsanitary  surroundings  than  we  have  in  lovely 
Java  could  scarcely  be  imagined,  and  no  government  can 
hope  to  alter  the  habits  of  an  entire  people  very  rapidly. 
The  Chinese  and  others  in  the  cities  have  never  yet  begun 
to  consider  dirt  in  house  or  street  as  dangerous,  and  the 
entire  population  has  grown  up  with  such  a  love  for  bath- 
ing in  the  very  same  canals  which  serve  largely  for  drain- 
age and  every  other  purpose,  that  there  cannot,  for  a  long 
time  to  come,  be  great  hopes  of  much  sanitary  improve- 
ment. 

But  when  it  was  seen  that  we  had  Officers  not  only  will- 
ing and  ready  to  live  and  die  with  the  people,  but,  also 
capable  of  lifting  them  into  a  new  life,  and  of  carrying  out 
any  simple  administrative  duties  that  might  be  laid  upon 
them,  we  had  first  one  and  then  another  of  the  Govern- 
ment's institutions  offered  for  our  care,  as  well  as  the  pro- 
visioning of  the  hospitals.  From  daybreak  in  the  morn- 
ing till  the  end  of  their  evening  Meetings,  our  Officers  may 
be  seen  showing  the  people,  old  and  young,  brotherly  and 
sisterly  love;  and  though  they  may  not,  as  yet,  have  suc- 
ceeded in  many  places  in  raising  up  such  a  native  force  as 
we  should  desire,  the  Government  has  found  them  as  perse- 
vering as  if  they  had  gained  the  crowd  which  their  toils 
and  endurances  have  deserved. 

The  first  Leper  Institution  placed  in  our  charge  was  so 
rapidly  transformed  from  a  place  of  despair  and  misery 
into  a  home  of  Salvation  hope  and  joy,  that  the  Govern- 
ment naturally  desired  to  see  more  such  institutions,  ade- 


CO-OPERATING  WITH  GOVERNMENTS      171 

quate  to  receive  the  entire  leper  population  of  the  islands, 
which  is,  alas!  large. 

Our  position  in  Java,  and  the  consequent  discussion  of 
us  in  the  Dutch  Parliament,  led  to  our  first  public  recogni- 
tion in  the  world  as  a  Christian  force.  Because  we  do  not 
baptise  with  water  there  has  been  in  Java  a  disposition 
amongst  some  Christian  teachers  to  refuse  to  any  of  our 
people  burial  in  a  Christian  cemetery.  But  when  in  the 
Dutch  budget  discussion  this  was  made  an  objection  to  our 
receiving  any  grant,  the  Colonial  Minister  simply  read  out 
the  whole  of  our  Articles  of  War,  and  asked  how  any  one 
could  refuse  to  recognise  as  Christians  those  who  had 
signed  such  declarations. 

The  Governments  of  the  various  Australian  Colonies 
must,  however,  have  the  credit  of  i^.rst  giving  to  our  Officers 
public  patronage.  As  has  already  been  mentioned,  the  Gov- 
ernors, Premiers,  and  Ministers  have,  for  some  twenty- 
seven  years  past,  been  seen  presiding  over  the  anniversaries 
of  our  Colonial  work,  speaking  in  no  measured  terms  of  all 
our  activities,  and  so  helping  us  to  get  the  means  to  support 
them. 

The  Queen  Mother  and  the  present  Queen  of  Holland 
were  the  first  royal  personages  personally  to  visit  our  Insti- 
tutions, although  the  present  King  of  Denmark,  when 
Crown  Prince,  had  for  years  used  our  Refuges  in  that 
country  for  cases  he  thought  deserving,  and  his  brother. 
King  Haakon,  of  Norway,  attended,  as  a  warm  friend,  one 
of  The  General's  Meetings  in  Christiania. 

Canadian  and  South  African  Governors  and  Ministers 
have  acted  Hke  the  Australian  ones  in  their  public  expres- 
sions of  confidence  in  us,  and  they  have  given  us  very  con- 
siderable liberty  in  their  prisons,  so  that  most  of  the  crim- 
inal population  comes  more  or  less  under  our  influence. 

The  greatest  of  our  governmental  victories  have,  how- 
ever, been  won  in  Switzerland  and  Germany,  where  we 
were  for  so  many  years  looked  upon  as  a  dangerous,  if  not 
harmful,  influence,  owing  chiefly  to  the  gross  calumnies 
of  "  Christian ''  teachers  and  writers.  The  results  of  our 
work  upon  those  whose  lives  had  been  a  disgrace  and  bur- 


172  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

den  to  the  community  could  not  be  hidden,  however,  and 
there  is  now  scarcely  a  cantonal  government  in  Switzerland 
which  does  not  subsidise  some  one  or  other  of  our  Institu- 
tions. The  cities  of  Hamburg  and  Elberfeld,  in  Germany, 
have  led  the  way  in  granting  to  us  similar  assistance,  and 
it  can  only  be  a  question  of  time  before  we  gravitate  into 
an  equally  honoured  position  elsewhere.  For  although  we 
continue  to  keep  as  far  as  possible  aloof  from  all  parties, 
and  party  feeling,  and  have  not,  therefore,  the  means  of 
influencing  and  obtaining  grants  from  politicians  in  the  or- 
dinary way,  we  compel  attention  by  what  we  do,  and  have, 
undoubtedly,  done  more  than  any  other  religious  commu- 
nity to  create  that  inclination  towards  intelligent  care  for 
the  criminal  and  outcast  which  is  almost  becoming  a  fash- 
ion, in  governmental  circles,  nowadays. 

It  begins  to  look  as  if,  had  The  General  lived,  some  of 
the  South  American  republics  would  have  been  the  first, 
after  all,  to  gladden  his  heart  by  a  hearty  and  handsome 
co-operation.  For  twenty  years  he  pleaded  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  show  what  could  be  done  for  those  whose  life  and 
character  have  been  wrecked  amidst  the  breakers  of  mod- 
ern life,  if  they  were  removed  from  their  old  surroundings 
and  compelled  to  live  under  our  influence  in  country  air. 
We  have  come  so  far  in  this  direction,  in  New  Zealand, 
that  we  have  bought  islands,  where  former  inebriates  and 
their  children  can  be  kept  completely  severed  from  their 
old  temptations,  and  so  have  every  opportunity  to  begin  a 
new  life  if  they  will.  Men,  as  well  as  young  people,  are 
frequently  handed  over  to  us  by  the  authorities;  but  there 
is  not  yet  anywhere  a  sufficient  power  given  to  detain  those 
who  are  disinclined  to  hard  work. 

And  recently.  The  General  was  promised,  in  the  course 
of  interviews  with  authorities,  a  considerable  extension  in 
the  United  Kingdom  of  the  liberty  to  deal  with  prisoners, 
which  we  have  long  enjoyed  in  America  and  Canada.  The 
long  night,  when  prisoners  were  treated  only  as  trouble- 
some animals  against  whom  society  needed  protection, 
seems  to  be  passing,  and  with  the  new,  earnest  resolve  to 
try  and  fit  them  for  a  better  life,  which,  without  God's  help, 


CO-OPERATING  WITH  GOVERNMENTS      173 

can  never  be  done,  we  are  looking  forward  to  greatly  im- 
proved opportunities.  In  India,  as  has  already  been  noted, 
many  persons  belonging  to  the  criminal  tribes  are  already 
under  our  care,  and,  wherever  we  have  the  opportunity  to 
prove  what  the  power  of  God  can  do  in  such  hearts,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  of  the  ultimate  result. 

Upon  the  question  of  temperance,  there  is  happily  a  wide- 
spread awakening  amongst  the  nations.  So  convinced  are 
all  Governments  and  peoples  that  drinking  and  crime  are 
closely  connected,  that  much  has  already  been  done,  with 
good  effect,  to  lessen  the  sale  of  intoxicants  in  many  lands, 
and  more  is  being  promised.  Anxious  as  we  are  to  see  the 
drink-traffic  abolished  everywhere,  it  has  never  appeared 
to  us  to  be  desirable  to  join  in  agitations  of  a  political  kind 
on  the  subject.  And  the  wisdom  of  this  attitude  has  \ym 
shown,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  by  the  manner  in 
which  this  question  has  been  used  to  embitter  party  strife. 
But  it  was  a  puzzle  at  first  to  know  by  which  course  to 
steer.  When  a  Licensing  Bill  was  before  the  English 
House  of  Commons,  The  General  wrote: — 

"The  Licensing  Bill  has  given  me  much  anxiety,  mainly  be- 
cause I  see  so  imperfectly  what  we  ought  to  do.  However,  we 
shall  do  what  seems  the  best  to  be  done — with  what  success  has 
to  be  seen.  I  am  heartily  sick  of  politics  and  parties,  and  that, 
mainly,  because  they  seem  to  me  so  insincere. 

"  What  an  unsatisfactory  thing  is  life,  apart  from  the  real 
work  we  do  for  God  and  the  Salvation  of  souls !  I  want  more 
faith,  more  conquering  faith.     I  must  have  it. 

"  I  have  got  work  to-day  to  do  that  cannot  be  done  without 
Divine  wisdom.  I  have  asked  for  it.  I  am  asking  for  it  while 
I  write,  and,  surely,  it  will  be  given ;  and  yet  it  seems  as  though 
the  Spirit  whispers  in  my  ear,  *You  will  not  believe  you  have 
it  when  it  is  imparted.'  But  I  will.  Anyhow,  I  will  make  a 
desperate  effort  to  believe  that  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God 
guides  my  judgment,  however  I  may  feel,  or  whatever  the  out- 
come may  be.  Pray  for  me,  I  cling  to  life  and  the  work  I 
love  so  well." 

Remarkably  enough,  the  German  police,  who,  more  than 
any  other,  suspected  and  watched  and  restricted  us  at  first. 


174  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

have  become  the  first  convinced  of  the  value  of  our  opera- 
tions, and  those  in  the  city  of  Cologne  have  been  the  very 
first  heartily  to  arrange  for  our  co-operation  with  them  by 
placing  at  our  disposal  a  convenient  hand-waggon  for  the 
transport  of  helpless  drunkards,  and  by  arranging  for  their 
officials  to  call  us  upon  the  telephone,  whenever  such  help 
is  needed,  instead  of  taking  the  poor  drunkards  to  the  cells. 
This  plan  was  arrived  at  only  after  the  police  had  seen 
the  work  carried  out  by  our  people  with  an  ambulance 
which  required  the  services  of  two  strong  men.  But  there 
is  reason  to  suppose  that  our  cordial  relationships  with  the 
authorities  in  Cologne  and  elsewhere  are  largely  due  to  the 
good  impression  made  upon  them  by  The  General  himself. 
Of  his  great  Meeting  in  Cologne,  attended  by  many  officials, 
and  other  persons  of  influence,  he  wrote : — 

"  I  had  certainly  a  remarkable  Campaign,  and  my  Meeting  in 
Cologne  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  my  history.  Oh, 
it  was  a  moving,  hope-inspiring  affair.  Oh,  what  wonders  the 
dear  Salvation  Army  may  yet  accomplish  in  the  Fatherland! 
I  am  sure  it  will  be  so,  whoever  lives  to  see  it." 

Thank  God  that  he  was  spared  to  see  another  seven  years 
of  progress  in  that  direction  since  this  was  written. 

In  Japan,  which  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  specially  fa- 
vourable to  any  Christian  Society,  we  have  long  had  oppor- 
tunity regularly  to  visit  all  persons  in  custody,  and  as  we 
have  already  seen,  to  invite  all  girls  living  an  immoral  life 
to  come  to  our  Institutions. 

Why  is  there  still  difficulty  in  the  way  of  our  work  for 
the  prisoners,  and  other  needy  ones  in  Christendom? 
Chiefly,  because  there  are  chaplains  and  others  specially 
appointed  to  deal  with  such  needs,  and  who,  naturally,  do 
not  wish  to  see  others  "  interfering,"  as  they  think,  with 
their  parishioners.  In  very  many  cases  nowadays  there  is 
a  much  better  feeling  than  formerly,  and  such  persons 
heartily  welcome  our  help,  knowing  that  we  never  wish  to 
meddle  with  any  one's  work,  but  only  to  work  where  others 
can  gain  no  entrance. 

In  a  certain  Australian  jail,  at  the  time  when  men  there 


CO-OPERATING  WITH  GOVERNMENTS      175 

could  be  sentenced  to  death  for  many  crimes  other  than 
murder,  a  condemned  man  was  in  such  agonies  of  remorse 
that  none  of  the  warders  could  get  any  rest.  The  help 
of  one  of  our  Officers  was  greatly  desired,  but  the  chaplain 
would  not  consent,  so  that  our  Officer  could  not  be  ad- 
mitted. In  another  part  of  the  prison,  however,  one  of 
our  Soldiers  was  a  warder,  and  those  who  knew  this  sought 
him  out  and  brought  him  to  the  distressed  sinner,  whom  he 
very  soon  succeeded  in  leading  to  the  Saviour,  who  gave 
him  a  peace  as  complete  as  that  which  He  gave  to  His  com- 
panion in  crucifixion. 

It  is  by  this  patience  and  efficiency  that  our  Officers, 
wherever  they  get  opportunity,  win  the  favour  of  authori- 
ties, prisoners,  and  sufferers  of  every  kind.  Therefore,  we 
reckon  that  it  can  only  be  a  question  of  time  before  our  way 
is  opened  to  do  far  more  than  ever  for  the  friendless  of 
every  land. 

In  times  of  special  emergency,  The  General's  Officers 
always  find  an  opportunity  to  distinguish  themselves. 
Thus,  in  the  last  earthquake  of  Jamaica  our  Officers  in 
Kingston  were  said  to  have  been  the  calmest  and  readiest 
to  undertake  all  that  needed  to  be  done.  In  those  terrible 
days,  again,  of  earthquake  and  fire  in  San  Francisco  the 
Salvationists  provided  food  and  shelter  for  the  Chinese, 
and  others  of  the  most  despised;  and  in  South  Italy  such 
was  the  impression  produced  by  the  way  in  which  our  Offi- 
cers laboured,  when  Calabria  was  desolated  by  earthquake, 
that  our  Officer  there.  Commissioner  Cosandey,  had  the 
honour  of  a  Knighthood  conferred  upon  him  in  recognition 
of  the  manner  in  which  he  had  superintended  the  distribu- 
tion of  blankets  and  other  articles  provided  out  of  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London's  fund,  the  skill  he  manifested  gaining 
the  approval  of  both  the  Italian  Government  and  the  British 
Ambassador  there. 

We  seek  neither  honours  nor  rewards,  however ;  but  only 
the  opportunity  to  carry  out  our  first  General's  plans  for 
the  good  of  all  men  everywhere. 


Chapter  XIX 

CONQUERING  DEATH 

Only  those  who  have  had  some  experience  of  a  perfect 
life-partnership — such  as  existed  for  thirty-five  years  be- 
tween The  General  and  his  wife — can  form  any  conception 
of  the  sufferings  he  had  to  pass  through,  in  connexion  with 
her  prolonged  illness  and  death. 

She  had  always  been  more  or  less  delicate  in  health,  yet 
had,  through  nearly  all  those  years,  triumphed  so  completely 
over  weakness  and  suffering  as  to  be  at  once  one  of  the 
happiest  of  wives  and  mothers,  and  the  most  daring  of  com- 
rades in  the  great  War. 

During  much  of  1887  she  had  suffered  more  than  usually, 
and  yet  had  taken  part  with  him  in  many  great  demonstra- 
tions; but  in  February,  1888,  new  symptoms  made  their 
appearance,  and  she  decided  upon  consulting  one  of  the 
ablest  of  London  physicians,  because  she  had  always 
dreaded  that  her  end  would  come,  like  that  of  her  mother, 
through  cancer,  and  wished  to  use  every  possible  care  to 
prolong,  as  much  as  might  be  possible,  her  days  of  help- 
fulness. 

When  in  February,  1888,  Sir  James  Paget  told  her  that 
she  had,  undoubtedly,  got  this  disease,  and  would,  prob- 
ably, not  be  alive  for  more  than  eighteen  months  or  two 
years,  she  received  the  announcement  with  the  greatest  calm 
and  fortitude.     The  General  says: — 

"After  hearing  the  verdict  of  the  doctors,  she  drove  home 
alone.  That  journey  can  better  be  imagined  than  described. 
She  told  me  how,  as  she  looked  upon  the  various  scenes 
through  the  cab  windows,  it  seemed  to  her  as  if  sentence  of 
death  had  been  passed  upon  everything;  how  she  had  knelt 
upon  the  cab  floor  and  wrestled  in  prayer;  and  how  the  realisa- 
tion of  our  grief  swept  over  her. 

176 


CONQUERING  DEATH  17^ 

"  I  shall  never  forget,  in  this  world  or  the  next,  that  meeting". 
I  had  been  watching  for  the  cab,  and  had  run  out  to  meet  and 
help  her  up  the  steps.  She  tried  to  smile  upon  me,  through 
her  tears;  but,  drawing  me  into  the  room,  she  unfolded  to  me 
gradually  the  result  of  her  interview.  I  sat  down  speechless. 
She  rose  from  her  seat  and  came  and  knelt  beside  me,  saying, 
*  Do  you  know  what  was  my  first  thought  ?  That  I  should  not 
be  there  to  nurse  you,  at  your  last  hour.' 

"  I  was  stunned.  I  felt  as  if  the  whole  world  was  coming  to 
a  standstill.  She  talked  like  a  heroine,  like  an  angel,  to  me. 
She  talked  as  she  had  never  talked  before.  I  could  say  noth- 
ing.    I  could  only  kneel  with  her  and  try  to  pray. 

"  I  was  due  in  Holland  for  some  large  Meetings.  I  had  ar- 
ranged to  travel  there  that  very  night.  She  would  not  hear 
of  my  remaining  at  home  for  her  sake.  Never  shall  I  forget 
starting  out  that  evening,  with  the  mournful  tidings  weighing 
like  lead  upon  my  heart.  Oh,  the  conflict  of  that  night  journey ! 
I  faced  two  large  congregations,  and  did  my  best,  although  it 
seemed  to  me  that  I  spoke  as  one  in  a  dream.  Leaving  the 
Meetings  to  be  continued  by  others,  I  returned  to  London  the 
following  evening.  And  then  followed,  for  me,  the  most  pain- 
ful experience  of  my  life.  To  go  home  was  anguish.  To  be 
away  was  worse.  Life  became  a  burden,  almost  too  heavy  to 
be  borne,  until  God  in  a  very  definite  manner  comforted  my 
heart." 

After  this,  there  were  two  years  and  a  half  of  such  tor- 
tures for  him  to  bear!  For  some  time,  indeed,  Mrs.  Booth 
was  still  able  occasionally  to  take  part  with  him,  even  in 
very  large  Meetings.  But  any  one  can  understand  how 
such  privileges  only  increased  his  sense  of  coming  loss. 

Her  last  address  was  delivered  in  the  City  Temple,  on 
June  21,  1888,  and  she  had  to  remain  for  nearly  an  hour 
after  in  the  pulpit  before  she  could  move.  Nevertheless, 
she  was  able  to  continue  her  help  by  writing  for  our  publi- 
cations, and  to  individuals,  for  a  long  time  after  this.  Be- 
fore the  Self-Denial  Week  of  1888  she  wrote  to  our  Sol- 
diers : — 

"  Although  not  able  to  be  at  the  front  of  the  battle  in  person, 
my  heart  is  there,  and  the  greatest  pain  I  suffer  arises  from  my 


178  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

realisation  of  the  vast  opportunities  of  the  hour,  and  of  the 
desperate  pressure  to  which  many  of  my  comrades  are  subject, 
while  I  am  deprived  of  the  ability  to  help  them,  as  in  days  gone 
by." 

In  1889  she  wrote: — 

"  I  am  now  realising,  as  never  before,  how  much  harder  it  is 
to  suffer  than  to  serve.  I  can  only  assure  you  again,  by  letter, 
that  my  heart  is  as  much  with  you  as  ever.  Regard  no  oppo- 
sition, persecution,  or  misrepresentation.  Millions  upon  mil- 
lions wait  for  us  to  bring  to  them  the  light  of  life." 

To  the  great  Crystal  Palace  Demonstration  of  1889  she 
sent  a  message  which  was  displayed  in  large  letters: — 

"  My  place  is  empty,  but  my  heart  is  with  you.  Go  forward. 
Live  holy  lives.  Be  true  to  The  Army.  God  is  your  strength. 
Love  and  seek  the  lost.  God  is  my  salvation  and  refuge  in  the 
storm." 

Hers  was,  indeed,  a  prolonged  storm  of  suffering,  the 
strain  of  which  upon  The  General  cannot  easily  be  real- 
ised. He  would  go  out,  time  after  time,  to  his  great  jour- 
neys and  Meetings  with,  necessarily,  a  gnawing  uncertainty 
as  to  what  might  occur  in  his  absence,  and  would  be  called, 
again  and  again,  to  what  he  thought  might  be  her  last 
agony,  only  to  see  her,  after  hours  of  extraordinary  pain 
and  weakness,  rally  again,  to  suffer  more.  To  the  very 
end  her  mind  continued  to  be  as  clear  and  powerful  as  of 
old,  so  that  her  intense  interest  in  everything  connected 
with  his  work  made  it  difficult  for  The  General  to  realise 
that  she  might  at  any  moment  be  called  away  from  him. 
Often  through  the  long  hours  of  the  night  he  would  watch 
beside  her. 

To  a  party  of  Officers  who  visited  her  in  1889,  she 
said : — 

"  I  feel  that  at  this  moment  I  could  put  all  my  children  into 
their  graves,  and  go  to  a  workhouse  bed  to  die,  sooner  than  I 


CONQUERING  DEATH  179 

could  see  the  principles  of  The  Salvation  Army,  for  which  I 
have  lived  and  struggled,  undermined  and  sacrificed.  God  will 
not  fail  you.  Give  the  children  my  dear  love,  and  tell  them 
that,  if  there  had  been  a  Salvation  Army  when  I  was  ten  years 
old,  I  should  have  been  as  good  a  Soldier  then  as  I  am  to-day." 

To  the  last  she  maintained  her  interest  in  comrades  who 
were  furthest  off,  as  well  as  in  those  who  were  near.  To 
Australians  she  sent  the  message : — 

"  Tell  them  I  look  on  them  and  care  for  them,  as  for  my 
English  children,  and  that  I  expect  them  to  gather  in  many  a 
sorrowing  mother's  prodigal,  who  has  wandered  far  from  his 
Father's  house." 

Of  one  of  those  terrible  occasions  when  it  seemed  as 
if  the  end  had  come,  The  General  writes,  in  December, 
1889:— 

"  To  stand  by  the  side  of  those  you  love,  and  watch  the 
ebbing  tide  of  life,  unable  to  stem  it,  or  to  ease  the  anguish,  is 
an  experience  of  sorrow  which  words  can  but  poorly  describe. 
There  was  a  strange  choking  sensation  in  the  throat  which 
threatened  suffocation.  After  several  painful  struggles  there 
was  a  great  calm,  and  we  felt  the  end  had  come." 

What  a  mercy  that  nobody  knew  how  many  months  of 
agony  were  yet  to  follow!  It  was  not  till  October,  1890, 
that  the  end  really  came.  She  sent  that  year  to  The  Army 
for  its  Self-Denial  Week,  the  message : —  ^ 

"My  Dear  Children  and  Friends, — 

"  I  have  loved  you  much,  and  in  God's  strength  have  helped 
you  a  little.     Now,  at  His  call,  I  am  going  away  from  you. 

"  The  War  must  go  on.  Self-Denial  will  prove  your  love  to 
Christ.    All  must  do  something. 

"I  send  you  my  blessing.  Fight  on,  and  God  will  be  with 
you.    Victory  comes  at  last.    I  will  meet  you  in  Heaven. 

"  Catherine  Booth." 

On  October  ist  violent  haemorrhage  set  in.     The  Gen- 


180  GENERAL  WILLIAIVI  BOOTH 

eral  was  telegraphed  for,  and  after  days  and  nights  of 
continual  suffering  and  extreme  weakness,  she  passed  away 
on  Saturday  afternoon,  October  4,  1890. 

Writing  immediately  afterwards,  The  General  said: — 

"  Ever  since  our  first  meeting,  now  nearly  forty  years  ago, 
we  have  been  inseparable  in  spirit;  that  is,  in  all  the  main 
thoughts  and  purposes  of  our  lives.  Oh,  what  a  loss  is  mine ! 
It  cannot  be  measured." 

And  yet,  anxious,  as  in  every  other  case,  to  make  the 
very  best  of  the  funeral  for  the  good  of  souls.  The  General 
rose,  by  God's  grace,  so  completely  above  his  own  feelings 
as  to  be  able  to  take  part  in  all  the  unparalleled  services 
that  followed.  More  than  forty  thousand  people  visited 
the  Congress  Hall,  Clapton,  to  look  upon  her  remains  there, 
and  to  pray  and  give  themselves  to  God  in  many  cases, 
whilst  her  favourite  hymns  were  sung  by  bands  of  Cadets. 
The  coffin  was  then  removed  to  the  Olympia,  the  largest 
covered  building  we  could  hire  in  London,  and  30,000  per- 
sons passed  the  turnstiles  to  attend  the  funeral  service,  con- 
ducted mostly  by  signs,  according  to  a  printed  programme. 

The  next  day,  the  funeral  march  was  restricted  to  Offi- 
cers of  whom  3,000  were  present;  but  the  crowds  which 
looked  on  as  it  passed  right  through  from  our  Headquar- 
ters in  the  City  to  the  Abney  Park  Cemetery  were  beyond 
all  computation.  A  crowd  of  10,000,  admitted  by  ticket,  sur- 
rounded the  grave,  where  The  General  spoke,  as  one  news- 
paper reported,  "  as  a  Soldier,  who  had  disciplined  his  emo- 
tion without  effort,  and  straight  from  the  heart."  Of  his 
wonderful  address,  we  have  only  room  to  quote  the  final 
words : — 

"What,  then,  is  there  left  for  me  to  do?  Not  to  count  the 
weeks,  the  days,  and  the  hours  which  shall  ]  ring  me  again 
into  her  sweet  company,  seeing  that  I  know  not  what  will  be  on 
the  morrow,  nor  what  an  hour  may  bring  forth.  My  work  is 
plainly  to  fill  up  the  weeks,  the  days,  and  the  hours,  and  cheer 
my  poor  heart  as  I  go  along,  with  the  thought  that  when  I 
have  served  my  Christ  and  my  generation,  according  to  the 
will  of  God,  which  I  vow  this  afternoon  I  will,  to  the  last  drop 


CONQUERING  DEATH  181 

of  my  blood,  that  then  she  will  bid  me  welcome  to  the  skies, 
as  He  bade  her.     God  bless  you  all !     Amen." 

And  then  he  knelt  and  kissed  the  coffin,  and  we  lowered 
it  into  the  grave.  The  Chief  of  the  Staff  read  a  form  of 
Covenant,  which  thousands  repeated,  and  then  we  parted. 

From  that  very  day  The  General  rose  up  and  went  for- 
ward, sorrowing,  as  ever}^  one  could  see,  to  his  last  days 
over  his  irreparable  loss,  but  never  allowing  his  grief  to 
hinder  his  labours  for  those  who,  amidst  their  afflictions 
have  no  heavenly  Comforter. 

A  still  further  blow  was  to  fall  upon  him,  only  three 
years  later.  Mrs.  Booth  had  delighted,  especially  during 
her  years  of  suffering,  in  the  fellowship  of  her  second 
daughter,  Emma,  who  had  been  married  to  Commissioner 
Tucker,  in  1890,  and  who  had  always  seemed  to  The  Gen- 
eral to  be  the  nearest  representative,  in  many  respects,  of 
her  mother.  He  had  gladly  given  her  up  to  go  with  her 
husband  to  India,  and  was  equally  willing  for  her,  later, 
to  go  to  the  United  States.  But  he  always  kept  up  a  very 
full  correspondence  with  her.  Her  last  letter  to  him,  writ- 
ten on  an  American  train,  said: — 

"  My  precious  General, — 

"  I  am  still  on  the  wing.  We  were  at  St.  Louis  on  Sunday, 
where  we  had,  in  some  respects,  a  rather  remarkable  day.  The 
entire  feeling  of  the  city  has  been  distinctly  different  since  your 
visit — the  sympathy  now  is  most  marked. 

"  I  also  spoke  for  'fifteen  minutes'  (stretched  a  little)  in  the 
Merchants  Exchange,  a  huge  marble  structure.  No  woman, 
they  say,  has  ever  been  heard  there  before.  This  was  on  Sat- 
urday at  noon,  and  quite  a  number  of  the  leading  business  and 
money  men  turned  up  at  Sunday's  Meetings. 

"  Can't  write  more.  How  I  wonder  how  you  are !  Up 
above  us  all  so  high,  like  a  diamond  in  our  sky,  though  perhaps 
I  ought  to  say  cyclone  or  race-horse,  or — but  there  is  no 
simile  fine  enough. 

"  Good-night !  Would  that  you  were  here,  so  that  I  could 
say  it,  and  hear  all  that  you  would  like  to  say,  and  then  start 
off  again  to  try  and  carry  out  your  wishes  with  better  success,  as 

"  Your  unfailing  Emma.'-' 


182  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

Alas,  alas,  for  the  uncertainties  of  human  Hfe!  Little 
did  she  imagine  that  before  the  letter  could  reach  him  she 
would  be  gone  from  another  train,  for  ever  from  his  side. 

Her  own  devotion  to  the  War,  from  her  very  childhood, 
had  always  been  such  as  to  set  an  example  to  all  who  knew 
her.  As  head,  for  ten  years,  of  our  Training  Home  for 
women  Officers,  she  did  more  than  can  ever  be  known  to 
ensure  the  purity  and  excellence  of  The  Army's  leaders,  so 
that  it  may  be  easily  guessed  how  much  her  father  valued 
her. 

As  joint  leader  with  her  husband  of  our  forces  in  India, 
and  afterwards  in  the  United  States,  she  never  spared  her- 
self, but,  in  spite  of  repeated  illnesses,  and  without,  in  any 
way,  neglecting  her  duties  as  mother  of  six  children,  she 
travelled  and  laboured  incessantly. 

Starting  out  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  October 
28th,  from  Colorado,  to  ride  to  Chicago,  she  managed  to 
make  a  rush-call,  between  trains,  in  Kansas  City,  to  view  a 
new  building  The  Army  was  about  to  take  as  an  Industrial 
Home.  Throughout  most  of  the  two  days'  journey,  she 
was  in  conversation  with  one  or  another  Officer  as  to  com- 
ing extension  of  the  work  until,  finding  that  Colonel  Addie, 
whose  Province  she  last  passed,  had  composed  a  new  song, 
she  asked  him  to  sing  it  over  to  her,  and  to  repeat  three 
times  the  last  verse,  which  was  as  follows: — 

Time  and  place  will  cease  to  know  you. 

Men  and  things  will  pass  away; 
You'll  be  moving  on  to-morrow. 

You  are  only  here  to-day. 

Little  did  either  of  them  imagine  how  terribly  the  words 
were  to  be  verified  within  four  hours  of  their  being  sung. 

Just  as  she  was  leaving  her  place  in  one  carriage,  to  go 
to  the  sleeping  berth  prepared  for  her  in  another,  a  tre- 
mendous crash  announced  to  all  the  passengers  that  the 
car  through  which  she  and  one  of  our  Officers  were  passing 
had  left  the  rails  and  been  destroyed.  Both  were  buried 
in  the  debris.  The  Colonel  (Holland)  survived,  but  Mrs. 
Booth-Tucker,  after  lingering  in  unconsciousness  a  couple 
of  hours,  passed  away. 


CONQUERING  DEATH  18S 

What  a  blow  for  The  General!  He  wrote  at  the  end 
of  the  year:  "  This  has  been,  is,  and  will  be,  to  the  end  of 
my  earthly  chapter,  a  mysterious  and  painful  dispensation 
— at  least,  so  it  appears  at  the  moment.  What  God  may 
do  for  me  in  the  future,  and  how  He  may  make  it  work 
for  my  good  does  not  at  present  appear.  But  He  is  able 
to  make  it  mightily  helpful  to  His  glory,  and  the  Salvation 
of  souls.  With  this  prospect,  God  forbid,  then,  that  I 
should  be  other  than  content — nay,  filled  with  praise.  I 
am  at  present  strangely  supported  and  cheered;  and  not 
strangely  either,  for  is  it  not  what  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, with  so  many  loving  prayers  going  up  to  Heaven 
on  my  account  hour  by  hour." 

Remembering  that  he  had  lost  not  only  the  most  ten- 
derly beloved  one  left  to  him,  but  an  Officer  holding  one 
of  the  most  important  posts  he  had  to  fill,  we  can  some- 
what estimate  the  grace  that  could  thus  sustain  him,  and 
make  it  possible,  even  then,  to  go  gladly  forward! 

Yet  again  he  was  to  drink  the  bitter  cup  of  family  be- 
reavement, this  time  affecting  his  youngest  daughter,  who 
had  married  Commissioner  Hellberg,  already  mentioned  as 
one  of  our  first  Swedish  Officers. 

Not  only  had  he  kept  all  the  promise  of  his  first  brave 
and  sturdy  stand  for  The  Army  as  a  student,  but,  gaining 
by  every  year's  experience  in  various  lands,  he  had  shown 
remarkable  ability  in  many  spheres. 

With  his  no  less  able  and  devoted  wife,  he  had  laboured 
in  India,  at  International  Headquarters,  in  France  and  in 
Switzerland,  when  consumption,  alas!  showed  itself,  and, 
in  spite  of  all  that  could  be  done  for  him,  during  years  of 
suffering,  in  Algiers,  and  in  various  resorts  of  health- 
seekers,  he  steadily  sank.  Though,  of  course,  death  had 
long  threatened  him,  he  was  caught  suddenly  at  the  last, 
and  died  in  Berlin  on  the  journey  homewards  to  Sweden 
from  South  Germany,  at  a  time  when  his  wife  could  not 
be  with  him. 

It  will  be  readily  understood  how  much  more  trying  this 
was  to  The  General  than  if  he  had  been  near  to  comfort 
his  daughter  in  all  her  sorrow.     And  yet  this  blow,  falling 


184  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

upon  him  when  he  was  seventy-nine  years  old,  found  him 
no  less  resolute  than  ever.  He  sent  this  widowed  mother 
out  into  Denmark,  where  she  was  a  stranger,  to  persevere 
in  the  fight.  She  had  showed  herself,  like  her  father,  able 
to  plead  at  the  very  grave-side  with  the  crowd,  for  God. 

In  connexion  with  the  loss  of  Mrs.  Booth  we  began  a 
system  of  special  Memorial  Services  which  have  been  won- 
derfully blessed.  The  first  one,  held  on  the  first  anniver- 
sary of  her  death,  in  the  Agricultural  Hall — one  of  the 
largest  buildings  in  London,  was  altogether  too  large  for 
any  speaking  to  be  heard.  The  plan  was  adopted,  there- 
fore, as  at  the  funeral,  of  a  complete  form  of  service,  each 
point  of  which  was  indicated  on  the  programme,  and  by 
large  illuminated  signs.  By  this  means  the  audience,  of 
some  15,000,  was  able  closely  and  unitedly  to  join  in  all  the 
songs  and  prayers,  whilst  scenes  from  Mrs.  Booth's  life, 
and  messages  taken  from  her  writings  and  from  The  Gen- 
eral's, were  also  on  the  great  lantern  screen  passed  on  to 
them.  Thousands  of  the  most  careless  and  thoughtless 
were  present;  but  there  was  no  break  in  the  solemnity  of 
the  service.  Hundreds  went  as  requested,  from  the  Meet- 
ing to  a  room  in  the  stables,  to  volunteer  for  life-service  as 
Officers. 

What  it  cost  The  General  to  be  present  on  this,  and,  since 
then,  on  similar  occasions,  specially  after  his  daughter's 
death,  may  be  imagined;  but  he  never  hesitated  to  endure 
this,  for  the  sake  of  the  many  souls  such  services  have  in- 
variably aroused  to  repentance,  faith,  and  self-sacrifice  for 
the  War.     Writing,  in  1905,  to  a  friend,  he  says: — 

"Were  you  at  the  Memorial  Service?  That  was  a  trying 
ordeal  for  me,  but  I  hear  that  many  were  benefited.  It  seems 
selfish  to  ask  for  so  many  intercessions;  but  I  cannot  get  on 
without  them.  (In  all  our  Memorial  Services  all  present  are 
asked  to  unite  in  prayer  for  the  bereaved  ones.)  The  mere 
fact  of  my  knowing  that  so  large  a  number  of  the  very  elect  of 
the  Kingdom  are  pleading  for  power  and  love  on  my  account, 
helps  me  forward.  God  bless  and  keep  and  comfort  you  every 
day  and  every  hour." 

Undoubtedly,  these  services,  whilst  blessed  to  all  pres- 


CONQUERING  DEATH  185 

ent,  have  also  served  to  provoke  much  prayer  and  faith 
for  all  our  bereaved  ones,  and  for  The  General  most  of  all, 
and  have  thus  made  it  easier  for  him,  and  for  all  of  us,  to 
triumph  over  personal  sorrows  and  losses,  and  press  for- 
ward to  ever-increasing  victory. 

That  The  General's  example  of  burying  his  own  sorrows 
in  redoubled  effort  to  cheer  and  help  others  has  been  fol- 
lowed everywhere,  may  count  as  large  compensation  for 
all  he  has  lost.  And  yet,  all  who  knew  him  best,  have  seen 
that  the  wound  caused  by  Mrs.  Booth's  loss  was  never 
healed.  With  the  badge  of  bereavement,  which  we  have 
substituted  for  any  costly  mourning,  ever  upon  his  left 
arm,  just  as  it  was  twenty  years  ago,  our  first  General 
went  onward  to  the  great  re-union  above,  '*  as  sorrowful, 
yet  always  rejoicing,"  his  sadness  ever  touching  as  many 
hearts  as  his  merry  remarks  aroused. 

Curiously  enough.  The  General,  whilst  anxious  at  all 
times  to  remind  every  one  of  death  and  judgment,  and  to 
prevent  their  being  so  intoxicated  by  pleasure  and  passing 
trivialities  as  to  prevent  their  thinking  of  their  souls  and 
of  eternity,  abolished,  so  far  as  his  followers  were  con- 
cerned, the  horrible  formalities  which,  in  all  countries  have 
come  to  be  thought  necessary  whenever  death  and  the  grave 
come  into  view. 

Nothing  could  be  more  opposed  to  everything  taught  by 
Christ  than  the  usual  processes  of  "  Christian  burial,"  and 
the  records  of  "  the  departed."  He  who  "  brought  life 
and  immortality  to  light "  through  His  Gospel  could  not 
wish  to  see  His  people's  graves  surrounded  exclusively  by 
signs  of  mourning,  and  then  plastered  over  with  flattering 
records  of  earthly  glory,  making,  as  a  rule,  no  mention  of 
His  Salvation,  and  the  eternal  glories  it  assures.  He  mani- 
fested, indeed,  and  always  shows  the  deepest  sympathy 
with  our  sorrows;  but  He  does  so  most  by  teaching  us  to 
make  them  steps  to  higher  life  and  joy. 

This  great  purpose  The  General  aimed  at  in  all  his  ar- 
rangements as  to  burials,  and  thus  alleviated  sadness,  and 
turned  death  into  victory  to  a  very  remarkable  extent.  No 
widow  or  orphan  under  his  Flag  will  add  to  all  the  in- 


186  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

evitable  costs  of  nursing  the  dying  those  of  fashionable 
"  mourning,"  clothing,  flowers,  or  monuments.  The  cross 
and  crown  badge  worn  on  the  left  arm  by  himself  and  his 
bereaved  ones,  sometimes  for  years,  whilst  providing  a 
most  touching  token  of  abiding  affection  for  lost  friends, 
is,  at  the  same  time,  a  special  declaration  of  faith  and  hope, 
and  yet  obviates  entirely  the  need  for  any  peculiar  dress 
"  for  the  occasion." 

Every  funeral  thus  becomes  a  very  valuable  opportunity 
for  comforting  and  strengthening  the  mourners,  and  for 
urging  the  unsaved  to  ensure  an  eternal  triumph.  It  would 
not  be  easy  to  compute  the  total  of  crowds  thus  brought 
under  the  sound  of  the  Gospel,  in  connexion  with  our  losses, 
every  year. 

Thus  all  these  occasions  for  sadness  have  been  turned 
into  fountains  of  joy,  not  merely  to  those  most  immedi- 
ately concerned,  but  to  the  whole  community.  We  have 
not  yet  had  time  or  opportunity,  thank  God!  sufficiently  to 
redeem  the  grave  and  the  cemetery  from  the  scandal  of 
men-praising  expenditure,  for  any  sort  of  tombstone  has 
generally  been  too  costly  for  our  people.  But  the  small, 
simple  edge-stone  which  marks  the  resting-place  of  "  Cath- 
erine Booth,  Mother  of  The  Salvation  Army,"  and  which 
asks  every  passer-by,  "Do  you  also  follow  Christ?"  has 
set  an  example,  consistent  with  all  our  past  and  our  eternal 
future. 

Surely,  the  day  will  come  when  our  General's  teaching 
and  practice  in  this  matter  will  help  to  lighten  the  burden 
of  every  bereaved  family,  and  make  every  cemetery  the 
birthplace  of  crowds  of  souls.  The  music  and  song  with 
which  we  surround  every  deathbed  and  funeral,  still  too 
much  tinged  sometimes  with  the  follies  of  traditional  show, 
have  already  been  used  by  God's  Spirit  to  bring  life  and 
gladness  to  many  a  spiritually  dead  soul. 


Chapter  XX 

HIS  SOCIAL  WORK 

Most  erroneously  and  unfairly  it  has  been  widely  as- 
sumed that  the  great  work  of  The  General  was  the  estab- 
lishment in  the  world  of  some  Social  Institutions.  Hap- 
pily, we  have  got  a  verbatim  report  of  an  address  to  his 
Social  Officers  gathered  around  him  a  year  before  his  death 
in  which  we  have  a  complete  statement  as  to  the  beginnings 
and  principles  of  the  work,  so  that  we  can  see  exactly  how 
he  wished  it  to  be  regarded. 

1.  By  the  Social  Work,  I  mean  those  operations  of  The  Sal- 
vation Army  which  have  to  do  with  the  alleviation,  or  removal, 
of  the  moral  and  temporal  evils  which  cause  so  much  of  the 
misery  of  the  submerged  classes,  and  which  so  greatly  hinder 
their  Salvation. 

2.  Our  Social  Operations,  as  thus  defined,  are  the  natural 
outcome  of  Salvationism,  or,  I  might  say,  of  Christianity,  as 
instituted,  described,  proclaimed,  and  exemplified  in  the  life, 
teaching,  and  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Here  I  would  like  to  say  that  Social  Work,  in  the  spirit  and 
practice  which  it  has  assumed  with  us,  has  harmonised  with 
my  own  personal  idea  of  true  religion  from  the  hour  I  promised 
obedience  to  the  commands  of  God. 

To  help  the  poor,  to  minister  to  them  in  their  slums,  to  sym- 
pathise with  them  in  their  poverty,  afflictions,  and  irreligion, 
was  the  natural  outcome  of  the  life  that  came  to  my  soul 
through  believing  in  Jesus  Christ. 

Before  many  days — nay,  before  many  hours — had  passed 
after  my  conversion,  I  was  to  be  found  praying  in  the  cottages 
in  the  working-class  quarters  of  the  town  in  which  I  lived, 
talking  in  the  slums,  comforting  the  dying,  and  doing,  so  far  as 
I  knew  how  and  had  ability,  what  seemed  to  me  most  likely  to 
help  the  poor  and  miserable  classes,  both  for  this  world  and  the 
world  to  come. 

3.  But  Social  Work,  as  a  separate  entity,  or  department  of 

187 


188  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

the  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ,  recognised,  organised,  and  pro- 
vided for,  had  to  wait  for  The  Salvation  Army. 

For  many  years  after  the  commencement  of  my  public  work, 
during  which  time  I  had,  as  opportunity  served,  helped  the  poor 
in  their  distress,  I  was  deterred  from  launching  out  to  any  great 
extent  in  this  direction  by  the  fear  so  commonly  entertained 
that  by  relieving  their  physical  necessities  I  should  be  helping 
to  create,  or  at  any  rate  to  encourage,  religious  hypocrisy  and 
pretence. 

All  this  time,  nevertheless,  I  felt,  and  often  keenly  felt,  that 
there  surely  must  be  some  way  by  which,  without  any  evil  con- 
sequences, I  could  legitimately  fulfil  the  cravings  of  my  own 
heart,  as  well  as  comply  with  the  commands  of  my  Lord,  who 
had  expressly  told  me  that  I  was  to  feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the 
naked,  care  for  the  sick,  and  visit  the  prisoners.  For  a  long 
time,  however,  I  failed  to  see  how  this  work  could  be  done  in 
any  organised  or  extensive  manner. 

Gradually,  however,  the  way  opened,  and  opened  largely,  as 
a  result  of  our  determination  to  make  the  godless  crowds  hear 
the  message  of  Salvation. 

I  said,  "They  shall  hear;  we  will  make  them  hear;  and  if 
they  won't  hear  in  any  other  way,  we  will  feed  them,  and  ac- 
company the  food  we  give  them  with  the  message  to  which 
they  so  determinedly  turn  a  deaf  ear."  In  the  very  earliest 
days  of  The  Army,  therefore,  in  order  to  reach  the  people 
whom  we  could  not  reach  by  any  other  means,  we  gave  the 
hungry  wretches  a  meal,  and  then  talked  to  them  about  God 
and  eternity. 

4.  Then  came  the  gradual  unfolding  of  our  Social  methods, 
which  have  been  so  remarkably  successful. 

My  dear  wife's  heart  had  been  particularly  drawn  out  on  be- 
half of  the  fallen  outcasts  of  society,  who,  often  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning,  appealed  peculiarly  to  her  large  and 
tender  sympathies.  More  than  once  she  found  opportunity  for 
extending  help  to  individual  cases  of  misfortune,  obtaining 
homes  amongst  her  friends  for  some  of  the  children,  and  assist- 
ing the  poor  mothers  to  win  their  way  back  to  virtue. 

But  it  was  not  until  the  end  of  1883,  or  thereabouts,  that 
anything  like  a  systematic  effort  in  this  direction  was  or- 
ganised on  their  behalf.  Touched  by  the  helpless  and 
pitiable  condition  of  some  poor  girls  who  had  sought  Sal- 
vation at  the  Corps  at  which,  with  her  husband,  she  fought 
as  a  Soldier,  a  baker's  wife,  living  in  one  of  the  most  wretched 


HIS  SOCIAL  WORK  189 

streets  in  Spitalfields,  took  the  girls,  in  distress  and  trouble, 
into  her  own  home.  Before  long  it  was  crowded  to  its  utmost 
capacity,  and  still  other  women  were  clamouring  for  admission. 
She  implored  us  to  help  her,  and  we  engaged  and  opened  a 
house  as  our  first  Rescue  Home,  placing  it  under  the  direction  of 
Mrs.  Bramwell  Booth. 

The  breaking  forth  of  the  same  spirit  in  different  directions 
in  other  lands  quickly  followed. 

At  about  this  time  our  first  Prison  Rescue  Brigade,  in  thci 
Colony  of  Victoria,  was  organised  by  the  late  Colonel  Barker. 
So  striking  was  the  success  attending  his  effort  that,  before] 
many  months  had  passed  by,  magistrates  in  the  city  of  Mel- 
bourne were  actually  giving  delinquents  the  option  of  being 
sent  to  prison  or  to  our  Prison-Gate  Home,  and  the  Govern- 
ment placed  the  former  Detective  Police  Building  at  our  dis- 
posal, at  a  nominal  rental. 

Not  only  does  the  genuine  Christian  spirit  carry  the  soul  out 
in  sympathy  with  misery,  but  it  often  leads  it  to  prefer  certain 
particular  classes  of  sufferers  or  v/rongdoers,  on  whom  to  lav- 
ish its  self-sacrificing  love,  and  restlessly  spend  itself  in  efforts 
for  their  benefit.  In  the  case  of  one  Salvationist,  it  will  be  the 
dying;  in  another  the  daughters  of  sin  and  shame;  in  another 
the  homeless;  in  another  the  children,  and  in  yet  another  the 
drunkards. 

With  Colonel  Barker,  as  with  other  comrades  under  our  Flag 
to-day,  it  was  the  criminals. 

This  spirit  thrives  and  becomes  more  effective  by  what  it 
feeds  upon.  It  must,  therefore,  be  wise  to  favour  its  prefer- 
ences, so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so  without  losing  sight  of 
the  well-being  of  the  whole. 

We  did  this  with  Colonel  Barker,  and  we  are  acting  on  the 
same  principle  with  others  to-day. 

Then  came  our  first  Women's  Rescue  Home  in  Melbourne,  to 
help  us  in  the  establishment  of  which  the  Colonial  Government 
gave  £i,ooo. 

It  was  upon  foundations  of  this  character  that  our  Social 
Operations  in  New  Zealand,  France,  South  Africa,  and  several 
other  countries  were  subsequently  built  up. 

For  years  past  our  Officers,  men  and  women,  both  in  the 
United  Kingdom  and  elsewhere,  had  carried  on  what  may  be 
spoken  of  as  an  unorganised  form  of  Slum  Work;  but  it  fell  to 
the  hands  of  my  glorified  daughter,  th^  Consul,  to  institute,  in 
London,  what  was  then  and  for  some  time  afterwards  known 


190  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

as  "the  Cellar,  Gutter,  and  Garret  Brigade" — the  forerunner 
of  scores  of  Slum  Posts,  which  are  now  such  a  recognised 
feature  of  our  operations  all  over  the  world. 

Our  first  Men's  Shelter  was  opened  in  Limehouse,  London, 
!  during  the  winter  of   1887-8,   and  was  soon   followed  by  the 
opening  of  similar  Institutions  in  other  countries,  far-off  and 
near  at  hand. 

From  our  earliest  days  drunkenness  had  been  one  of  the 
many  foes  of  God  and  man  against  which  we  had  specially 
taken  our  stand,  and  thousands  of  its  slaves  had  been  rescued 
from  its  grip,  and  become  valiant  Soldiers  in  our  ranks.  Our 
first  Inebriates'  Home,  conducted  in  the  interest  of  women,  was 
not,  however,  opened  until  1887.     This  was  in  Toronto,  Canada. 

The  Social  Work  in  the  United  States  had  its  birth  in  1885, 
in  an  effort  made  on  behalf  of  prisoners  at  Hartford,  Connect- 
icut. Similar  efforts  followed  in  other  cities,  and  Rescue  and 
Industrial  Homes,  Shelters,  and  Farm  Colonies  followed  on  in 
due  course. 

All  these  enterprises  and  many  others,  to  which  I  have  not 
time  now  to  refer,  were  prior  to  the  publication  of  "  In  Darkest 
England  and  the  Way  Out,"  and  had,  no  doubt,  a  powerful  in- 
fluence in  inspiring  that  volume. 

Since  then  one  branch  or  other  of  Social  Work  has  been 
commenced  in  every  country  in  which  our  Flag  is  flying. 

Notwithstanding  the  satisfaction  produced  by  these  and  kin- 
dred efforts  in  my  own  mind,  and  in  the  minds  of  those  imme- 
diately associated  with  me,  and  although  the  results  were  truly 
remarkable,  and  the  possibilities  seemed  to  be  still  more  won- 
derful, the  beginnings  of  these  Social  enterprises  attracted  com- 
paratively little  notice. 

The  New  Movement — for  thus  I  may  describe  it — which, 
with  half  an  eye,  thoughtful  men  might  have  seen  to  be  preg- 
nant with  blessings  for  the  whole  world,  was  almost  unnoticed 
by  either  the  Authorities  or  the  Press;  while  our  supplies  of 
men  and  money  for  its  conduct  and  extension  were  very  limited. 

Suddenly,  however,  the  scene  was  changed,  and,  all  at  once, 
everybody  was  asking,  "  What  is  The  Salvation  Army  ? " 
"Who  is  General  Booth?"  and  "What  is  this  Social  Scheme?" 

This  change  was  largely  brought  about  by  the  publication  of 
"  In  Darkest  England  and  the  Way  Out,"  together  with  the 
notices  of  the  Scheme  in  the  Press  which  it  brought  about. 

Judged  by  the  effect  produced,  the  book  was  certainly  a  re- 
markable one.     In  the  first  place  it  had  a  title  which,  in  a 


HIS  SOCIAL  WORK  191 

striking  manner  described  its  character.  Everybody  wanted  to 
see  it,  and,  as  a  result,  it  was  sold,  lent,  read,  thought  about, 
and  talked  about  in  every  direction.  Nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 
lion copies  were  sold.  The  profits  from  the  publication  and 
sale  amounted  to  about  £20,000,  of  which  sum  I  had  the  privi- 
lege of  handing  over  £5,380 — which  might  have  been  considered 
rightfully  to  accrue  to  me  personally  as  the  Author — ^to  the 
fund  devoted  to  the  promotion  of  the  object  for  which  the 
book  was  published. 

In  its  pages  I  propounded  those  Schemes  which  I  thought 
would  prove  most  successful  in  alleviating  the  terrible  misery  I 
had  described,  and  in  rescuing  some,  at  least,  of  the  sufferers 
from  the  conduct  that  produced  it. 

In  order  to  set  the  Scheme  in  motion,  I  asked  the  public  to 
give  me  £100,000,  and  a  further  £30,000  per  annum  to  main- 
tain it. 

I  can  never  forget  the  morning  that  directly  followed  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  volume.  I  was,  of  course,  in  ignorance  of  what 
the  nation  would  think  or  say  about  it. 

I  had  made  plans  for  the  book  to  be  delivered  to  the  news- 
papers at  one  and  the  same  time,  and,  regarding  the  Press  as 
being  to  some  extent  the  voice  of  the  people,  I  was  anxious 
to  hear  what  that  voice  would  say. 

I  was  not  kept  long  in  suspense.  As  I  ascended  the  stairs  at 
Headquarters  that  morning,  a  gentleman  with  a  countenance 
beaming  with  kindness  and  anxiety  met  me.  I  do  not  think 
he  had  ever  seen  me  before,  and  I  was  certainly  in  complete 
ignorance  of  him. 

"  General  Booth,  I  believe?  "  he  said. 

**Yes,  sir,"  I  answered. 

"  I  have  been  reading  the  critique  in  The  Times  of  your 
Darkest  England  Scheme,"  he  said,  "  and,  believing  your  plan 
to  be  right  and  good,  I  want  to  be  the  first  to  express  my  sym- 
pathy and  practical  assistance  in  carrying  it  out,  and  I  wish  to 
give  you  the  first  £1,000  towards  the  sum  asked  for." 

This  gentleman  proved  himself  a  firm  friend  of  the  Scheme, 
actively  co-operating  with  us  so  far  as  he  had  opportunity. 

A  short  time  afterwards  our  friend  was  present  at  the  open- 
ing of  our  first  London  Ex-Prisoners'  Home.  When  I  had 
finished  speaking  he  expressed  a  wish  to  say  a  few  words.  I 
invited  him  forward  for  that  purpose.  He  came,  hurried  and 
excited,  began  to  speak,  staggered,  reeled,  fell  into  my  arms 
and  immediately  expired.     It  may  be  truly  said  that  he  died 


192  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

calling    down    blessings    on    the    Darkest    England    Scheme. 

After  meeting  this  gentleman  on  the  stairs,  I  had  scarcely- 
sat  down  at  my  desk,  with  his  cheque  in  my  hand,  before  a  tele- 
gram was  handed  me,  from  one  of  the  most  influential  news- 
paper proprietors  in  the  city,  expressing  a  similar  hope,  and 
promising  a  similar  amount  for  its  realisation. 

But  along  with  these  cheering  expressions  of  approbation 
there  came  the  invariable  murmuring  objections.  One  of  these 
strove  to  minimise  the  value  of  the  effort,  by  arguing  that  it 
was  only  an  attempt  to  extend  The  Army's  religious  influ- 
ence. People  said  they  would  be  willing  to  help  if  all  reli- 
gious and  propagandist  motives  were  eliminated  from  the 
Scheme. 

One  night  a  gentleman  was  announced  as  wishing  to  see 
me.  He  declined  to  give  his  name,  and  the  only  description  of 
him  I  could  gain  was  that  he  was  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Stock  Exchange. 

"  I  want  to  ask  you  one  question — only  one,"  he  said, 
upon  entering  my  office,  "  about  this  Social  Scheme  of 
yours." 

"All  right,"  I  replied,  "as  many  as  you  like." 

"  Well,"  he  continued,  "  I  want  to  know  whether  you  are 
going  to  give  religion  alongside  your  other  benefits  to  these 
people  whom  you  seek  to  help?  I  am  not  a  religious  man  my- 
self. I  am  not  saved,  and  never  shall  be — I  am  a  lost  soul; 
but  there  is  no  reason  why  these  poor  wretches  should  not 
have  religion;  and  if  you  will  give  them  religion,  I  will  help 
you." 

"  Yes,"  I  answered,  "  we  will  give  them  religion.  While 
we  won't  refuse  to  help  them  because  they  are  irreligious — 
but,  on  the  contrary,  will  take  in  the  vilest  and  the  worst — we 
will  give  them  all  as  much  religion  as  we  can." 

"  I  will  help  you,"  he  answered,  as  he  handed  me  Bank  of 
England  notes  for  £500. 

He  came  to  see  us  again  and  again,  proving  for  the  time 
being  a   generous   friend.    Then   he   disappeared. 

In  a  very  short  time,  and  in  the  readiest  and  most  kindly 
manner,  £104,000  were  subscribed.  But,  alas!  only  a  very 
small  proportion  of  the  £30,000  that  was  asked  for  annually 
was  forthcoming. 

In  this,  as  in  many  other  similar  cases,  I  have  found  that 
whilst  the  public  will  be  ready — nay,  eager — to  embrace  a  new 
thing,  they  soon  get  tired  of  it,  run  after  some  other  novelty. 


HIS  SOCIAL  WORK  193 

and  leave  you  largely  to  struggle  for  its  continuance,  as  best 
you  can. 

5.  It  is  enough  here  to  state  that  the  results  at  the  onset 
were  remarkable.  Amongst  others  four,  which  might  have 
been   expected,   were   immediately   realised: — - 

(a)  The  first  was  the  bringing  into  public  view  the  ocean 
of  tears,  misery,  and  evil  which  was  rolling  around  us  in 
every  direction. 

(b)  Another  result  was  that  people  everywhere  were  awak- 
ened from  their  selfish  lethargy,  to  look  upon  these  waters  of 
tribulation,  and  were  amazed  to  find  the  depth,  the  darkness, 
and  the  despair  with  which  they  rolled  forward,  as  well  as 
the  damnation  to  which  they  invariably  led. 

(c)  A  further  effect  was  that  a  large  number  of  people  were 
won  over  to  care  for  the  class  whom  it  was  proposed  to  bene- 
fit, and  to  believe  in  the  possibility  of  the  Scheme  being  real- 
ised. Many  of  these  proved  permanent  friends  of  our  Social 
Operations. 

(d)  Yet  another  effect  was  that  the  fountains  of  compas- 
sion broke  out  in  the  hearts  of  large  numbers  of  individuals, 
and  led  them  to  make  similar  efforts.  Everywhere  the  call 
was  sounded  to  labour  for  these  poor  lost  people,  and  in- 
stances were  adduced  which  showed  that  their  humble  toil  was 
productive  of  very  striking  results. 

But  until  now  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing,  had  been  done 
to  stop  this  rolling  river,  or  deliver  those  perishing  in  its 
waters,  because  everybody  had  felt  helpless  in  the  presence  of 
the  enormous  evil. 

But  here,  now,  were  results  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  con- 
vince those  who  became  interested  in  the  matter  that,  by  the 
employment  of  the  methods  set  forth  in  "In  Darkest  England 
and  the  Way  Out,"  something  permanently  effective  might  be 
accomplished. 

On  the  other  hand,  others,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
who  had  never  manifested  any  particular  interest  before, 
either  for  or  against,  now  came  out  openly  as  our  enemies,  and 
a  stiff  fight  followed,  out  of  which  the  Social  Operations,  al- 
though in  their  infancy,  may  be  said  to  have  emerged  victori- 
ous. 

One  of  the  results  of  this  conflict  of  opinion  was  the  "  Dark- 
est England"  Inquiry. 

The  preparation  of  "In  Darkest  England"  will  for  ever 
remain  remarkable  in  my  own  memory,  as  it  was  mostly  writ- 


194*  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

ten  and  corrected  in  the  adjoining  chamber  to  that  in  which 
my  dear  wife  was  suffering  those  awful  agonies  associated 
with  the  disease  which  finally  carried  her  away. 

The  spirit  which  originated  and  controlled  the  Social  Work 
had  been,  pre-eminently,  the  spirit  of  her  religion.  She  cer- 
tainly was  the  most  practical  exponent  of  the  Christianity  of 
which  I  have  been  speaking  that  it  was  ever  my  lot  to  meet. 
It  was  her  religion;  she  preached  it  with  natural  eloquence 
and  remarkable  skill;  and,  in  life  and  death,  she  exemplified  it. 

From  that  day  to  this  the  history  of  the  Social  Work  has 
been  one  of  steady  progress  and  of  surpassing  interest,  and  I 
have  sometimes  wondered  whether  any  movement,  based  so 
solidly  upon  principles  of  permanence,  and  so  calculated  to 
bless  the  classes  for  whose  benefit  it  was,  by  the  Providence  of 
God,  called  into  being,  has  ever  existed  within  the  memory 
of  men. 

Now  what  has  come  out  of  this  beginning? 

I.  Here  is  a  list  of  the  various  Social  enterprises  we  have 
in  hand.  I  do  not  vouch  for  its  completeness;  but,  anyway, 
we  have  here  a  goodly  number  of  schemes  for  the  benefit  of 
the  poor  and  friendless  already  in  active  and  useful  opera- 
tion : — 

(a)  For  the  Starving,  we  have — 

i.  Children's  Free  and  Farthing  Breakfasts. 

ii.  Midnight  Soup  and  Bread  Brigades  for  the  Homeless, 
iii.  Cheap  Food  Depots, 
iv.  Special  Relief  Funds  for  cases  of  Special  Destitution. 

V.  Old  Clothes'  Depots  for  Slum  Families, 
vi.  Poor  Men's  Hotels, 
vii.  Cheap  Grain  Stores, 
viii.  Famine  Loan  Fund  for  Destitute  Indians. 

(b)  For  the  Drunkards,  we  have — 
i.  Drunkards'  Brigades. 

ii.  Midnight  Drunkards'  Brigades  (of  use  also  in  any  sudden 
emergency — Fire,  Flood,  etc.). 
iii.  Drunkards'  Advice  Bureaux, 
iv.  Homes  for  Inebriates — Men  and  Women. 

(c)  For  the  Paupers,  we  have — 
i.  Workhouse   Brigades. 

ii.  Salvation  Guardians  of  the  Poor, 
iii.  Pauper  Colonies. 


HIS  SOCIAL  WORK  195 

iv.  Pauper  Transportation. 
V.  Labour  Bureaux. 
vi.  Homes  for  the  Aged. 

(d)  For  the  Unemployed,  we  have — 

i.  Labour  Bureaux — Men  and  Women. 

ii.  Industrial  Homes, 
iii.  Labour  Wood  Yards, 
iv.  City  Salvage  Brigades. 

V.  Workshops. 

(e)  For  the  Homeless,  we  have — 
i.  Midnight  Scouts. 

ii.  Shelters  for  Men  and  Women.^ 
iii.  Metropoles.    .j^^^x^     <X^^i^uO^    i^^' 

(/)  For  the  Criminals,  we  have — 
i.  Prison  Visitation, 
ii.  Police-court  Work, 
iii.  Prison-Gate  Work. 
iv.  Probationary  Police. 
v.  Correspondence  Bureaux, 
vi.  Ex-Criminals'  Homes, 
vii.  Criminal  Settlements 

{g)  For  the  Daughters  of  Shame,  we  have — 
i.  Visitation  of  Streets,  Brothels,  lYoshiwaras,  Clubs,  etc. 
ii.  Midnight  Meetings, 
iii.  Receiving  Homes, 
iv.  Rescue  Homes. 
V.  Factories,  Laundries,  etc. 
vi.  "  Out  of  Love  "  Funds. 
vii.  Service  Girls'  Brigades, 
viii.  Shepherding  Brigades, 
ix.  Maternity  Homes. 
X.  Investigation  and  Detective  Department 

(/t)  Slum  Work.    We  have — 

i.  Visitation. 

ii.  First- Aid  Brigades, 

iii.  District  Nursing. 

iv.  "  Poorest  of  the  Poor  "  Aid. 

(t)  For  the  Sick,  we  have — 
i.  Visitation. 
ii.  Hospitals. 


196  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

iii.  Dispensaries, 
iv.  Village  Dispensing. 
V.  Leper  Hospitals. 
vi.  Maternity  Nursing. 

(/)  For  the  Lost,  we  have — 
i.  Inquiry  and  Correspondence  Bureaux, 
ii.  Legal  Assistance. 

(k)  Prevention  and  Protective  Work  for  Young  Girls.    Wc 
have — 

i.  Servants'  Homes. 
ii.  City  Institutes. 
iii.  Theatrical  Girls*  Home, 
iv.  Registries. 
V.  Students'  Homes. 

(/)  Anti-Suicide  Bureaux.    We  have — 
1.  Advice  Department, 
ii.  Loan  Department. 

(m)  The  Home  League. 

(»)  Land  Schemes.    We  have — 

i.  Emigration. 

ii.  Home  Colonisation, 
iii.  Colonisation  over  the  Sea. 
iv.  Lands  and  Farm  Colonies. 

v.  Small  Holdings. 

(o)  Deep  Sea  Brigades.    We  have — 
i.  Mission  Boats, 
ii.  Life-boat. 

{p)  Training  Colleges. 
(q)  Students'  Homes. 
(r)  Working-Men's  Association. 
(s)  Village  Banks. 
The  total  number  of  our  Social  Institutions  is  now  954. 
The  value  of  properties,  etc.,  held  for  the  use  of  our  Social 
Operations  is: — 

At  Home   (U.  K.) £228,000 

In   other   Countries 747,000 

Total    £975,000 


HIS  SOCIAL  WORK  197 

2.  In  the  history  of  the  Social  Work,  nevertheless,  there 
have  been,  as  you  will  know,  any  number  of  shortcomings. 
We  have  not  realised  all  our  expectations,  nor  fulfilled  all  our 
dreams.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  we  should.  This  is 
an  imperfect  world;  the  Movement  has  been  imperfect,  and 
the  people  who  have  carried  it  on  have  been  imperfect  also. 
Consequently,  it  is  only  natural  that  we  have  had  imperfect 
results. 

(o)  Many  things  have  been  calculated  to  cause  these  short- 
comings.   For  example: — 

i.  There  has  been  a  great  lack  of  direct  aim  at  the  true 

goal  of  our  Social  Work  on  the  part  of  some  Officers  who 

have  been  engaged  in  its  direction. 

Some  of  our  comrades  have  been  content  with  a  "  soup-and- 
blanket"  regime.  That  is  to  say,  they  have  too  often  been 
satisfied  with  the  alleviation  of  the  miseries  of  the  hour,  and 
have  stopped  short  of  the  removal  of  the  evils  that  have 
caused  the  poverty,  vice,  and  agony  from  which  the  sufferings 
sprang. 

Consequently,  the  work,  being  superficial,  has  in  some  cases 
only  had  superficial  and  temporary  results. 

You  get  out  of  a  thing  as  much  as  you  put  in — and  no  more, 
and  that,  not  only  in  quantity,  but  in  quality.  If  you  go  in 
for  root-and-branch  efforts,  you  will  get  root-and-branch  re- 
sults. 

ii.  Another  cause  of  our  shortcomings  has  been  the  la- 
mentable fact  that  some  of  our  Officers  have  been  deficient 

in  personal  religion. 

Our    Social    Work   is   essentially   a   religious   business.    It    . 
can  neither  be  contemplated,  commenced,  nor  carried  on,  with 
any  great  success,  without  a  heart  full  of  pity,  and  love,  and   ' 
endued  with  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

iii.  Another  of   our  difficulties  has  been  the   scarcity   of 

suitable  people   for  carrying  the  work  on.    This  was  also 

to  be  expected. 

If  we  had  been  content  with  hirelings,  and  had  sought  them 
out  from  among  the  philanthropies  and  Churches,  we  should 
have  found  plenty  in  number,  but  it  is  equally  certain  we 
should  have  had  considerably  more  doleful  failures  than  those 
we  have  experienced. 

We  are  not  only  making  but  are  now  training  the  Social 


198  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

Officers,  and  we  shall  doubtless  improve  in  this  respect,  whilst 
the  work  they  turn  out  will  be  bound  to  improve  proportion- 
ately. 

iv.  Then  again  a  further  reason  for  our  shortcomings  has 

been  our  shortness  of  money. 

This  need  unfortunately  is  not  passing  away,  as  you  will 
all  well  know.  But  I  suppose  some  of  you  have  come  from 
distant  lands  with  bags  of  francs  and  dollars  to  present  The 
General  with  an  ample  supply  of  this  requirement.  He  thanks 
you  beforehand. 

(b)  Nevertheless,  and  notwithstanding  all  our  shortcom- 
ings, the  position  now  occupied  by  our  Social  Operations,  and 
the  influence  exercised  by  them  on  the  great  and  small  of  the 
earth,  is  in  evidence  in  every  Continent  and  on  every  hand. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  world,  as  a  whole,  feels  much  of 
the  admiration  and  gratitude  which  the  Press  lavished  upon  me 
on  my  recent  Birthday — admiration  which  was  assuredly  in- 
tended not  only  for  myself,  but  for  The  Army  as  a  whole,  and 
not  only  for  The  Army  as  a  whole,  but  for  its  Social  Work- 
ers in  particular. 

I.  And  now,  in  conclusion,  let  me  summarise  a  few  of  the 
advantages  which  have  flowed  out  of  the  Social  Work,  and 
which  will  continue  to  flow  out  of  it  as  long  as  time  rolls  on. 

(o)  The  first  benefit  I  will  mention  is  the  Salvation  of  thou- 
sands of  souls. 

(b)  The  world  has  been  further  benefited  by  the  knowl- 
edge of  Salvation  spread  throughout  every  part  of  the  hab- 
itable globe. 

(c)  The  world  has  been  further  benefited  by  the  convic- 
tion that  has  been  brought  to  governmental,  philanthropic,  and 
religious  agencies,  as  to  the  duty  they  owe  to  the  classes  we 
seek  to  benefit. 

(d)  The  world  has  been  further  benefited  by  the  sympathy 
created  in  the  hearts  of  royal  personages,  scientists,  literary 
people,  and  the  Press  generally;  indeed,  in  every  class  and 
grade  of  mankind. 

{e)  The  world  has  been  further  benefited  by  the  removal 
of  misery  on  such  an  extensive  scale  as  had  never  even  been 
dreamed  of  as  possible. 

Think  of  the  multitudes  who,  by  our  operations,  are  daily 
saved  from  starvation,  vice,  crime,  disease,  death,  and  a  hun- 
dred other  nameless  woes. 


HIS  SOCIAL  WORK  199 

In  some  of  the  principal  cities  in  Italy,  Holland,  Germany,  and 
elsewhere,  visited  during  my  recent  Continental  Campaign,  I 
have  been  looked  upon  with  unspeakable  satisfaction  and  en- 
thusiasm as  The  General  of  the  Poor,  and  The  Salvation  Army 
has  been  regarded  as  their  friend. 

(/)  The  world  has  been  further  benefited  by  the  help  which 
our  Social  Operations  have  afforded  to  the  Field  and  other 
Departments  of  The  Army  all  over  the  world. 

{g)  The  world  has  been  further  benefited  by  the  confidence 
the  Social  Work  has  created  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  our 
own  people — both  Officers  and  Soldiers — as  to  the  truth  and 
righteousness  of  the  principles  and  practices  of  The  Salvation 
Army. 

{h)  The  world  has  been  further  benefited  by  the  answer 
which  the  Social  Work  constitutes  to  the  infidel's  sneers  at 
Christianity  and  the  assertion  of  its  effeteness. 

Truly,  our  future  chroniclers  will  have  to  record  the  fact 
that  our  Social  Operations  added  a  celestial  lustre  and  im- 
parted a  Divine  dignity  to  the  struggles  of  the  early  years  of 
The  Salvation  Army's  history. 

To  our  own  eyes  in  The  Army,  however,  that  which  has 
been  done  in  connexion  with  the  Institutions  is  only  a  very 
insignificant  part  of  the  whole  effect  produced.  Until  the 
present  movement  all  over  the  world  in  favour  of  the  better- 
ment of  the  social  condition  of  the  masses  of  the  people 
has  had  time  to  accomplish  definite  results,  our  Institutions 
may  yet  have  a  good  work  to  do. 

But  the  great  work  The  General  did  in  this  connexion 
was  the  restoration  to  men's  minds  of  the  Saviour's  own 
view,  that  we  owed  to  every  man  every  care  that  a  truly 
brotherly  heart  must  needs  bestow.  That  principle,  as  The 
General  pointed  out,  had  always  been  acted  upon,  as  best 
it  could  be,  from  the  beginning,  and  is  daily  acted  upon  to- 
day, wherever  The  Army  exists. 


Chapter  XXI 

MOTORING  TRIUMPHS 

During  one  of  his  Motor  Tours  The  General  remarked: — 
"It  was  here  (Banbury)  that  the  idea  of  a  Motor  Cam- 
paign was  conceived.  Seven  or  eight  years  ago  (1900)  I  held 
an  afternoon  Meeting  in  this  place.  On  that  occasion  a  crowd 
of  my  own  people  and  friends  came  to  the  station  to  give  me 
a  send-off.  Such  was  the  affection  shown,  and  so  manifest 
was  the  pleasure  derived  from  my  visit,  that  I  said  to  my- 
self:— 

"*Why  should  I  not  impart  this  satisfaction  to  those  com- 
rades and  friends  throughout  the  country  who  have  never  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  my  face,  or  hearing  my  voice?* 

"And  then  the  idea  occurred  to  my  mind  that  the  auto- 
mobile would  not  only  be  the  readiest  means  of  transit,  but 
the  only  plan  by  which  I  could  reach  the  small  towns  and  out- 
lying hamlets.  Moreover,  it  would  perhaps  prove  the  only 
method  by  which  we  could  get  through  the  crowds  who  would 
be  likely  to  assemble  on  such  a  Campaign." 

By  most  men,  in  their  prime,  it  would  be  thought  an 
ample  filling  up  of  any  week  to  address  three  large  Meet- 
ings on  the  Sunday,  and  one  each  week  night;  but  The 
General,  at  seventy- four,  saw  that,  travelling  by  motor,  and 
visiting  in  the  daytime  such  smaller  towns  and  villages  as 
had  never  seen  him  before,  or  not  for  many  years,  he  could 
not  only  reckon  upon  three  large  indoor  Meetings  every 
day,  but  speak,  perhaps,  to  millions  of  people  he  had  never 
before  addressed.  And  so  in  six  Motor  Tours  he  passed 
from  end  to  end  and  from  side  to  side  of  Great  Britain, 
gathering  crowds  from  day  to  day  for  six  weeks  at  a  time. 

We  have  met  with  people  frivolous  enough  to  write  of 
all  that  as  if  The  General's  Motor  Tours  were  luxuries! 
In  one  glorious  sense  they  were  really  so,  for,  to  him,  there 
could  never  be  a  greater  luxury  than  to  proclaim  the  Gospel 

200 


MOTORING  TRroMPHS  ^01 

to  a  crowd.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  found  it  less  ex- 
pensive to  travel  in  this  v^ay  than  to  go  as  he  ordinarily  did 
for  a  long  journey  to  and  from  London  by  train  to  reach 
each  town  separately. 

And  the  economy  of  Army  forces,  by  means  of  Motor 
Tours,  has  been  marvellous,  every  little  Corps  and  village 
Outpost  on  the  route  on  week-days  being  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  gather  crowds  they  never  ordinarily  reached  to- 
gether, and  to  unite  their  own  efforts  for  once  with  those 
of  their  General  in  trying  to  lift  up  Christ  more  than  ever 
before. 

And  The  General  was  so  alive  to  the  value  of  inflaming 
the  love  of  any  handful  of  villagers  or  children,  but  espe- 
cially of  his  Soldiers  and  Officers  to  the  Master,  that  it  was 
to  him  a  continual  delight  to  move  about  amongst  his  Sol- 
diery in  every  land. 

The  General  could  rarely  venture  to  plan  very  far  ahead, 
because  his  public  appearances  had  all  to  be  made  to  fit  in 
with  other  and  often  even  more  important  engagements,  of 
which  only  his  Staff  knew  anything.  It  is,  indeed,  mar- 
vellous how  few  engagements  he  made  ever  had  to  be 
broken,  and  how  successful  almost  every  Campaign  of  his 
has  been,  seeing  at  how  short  notice  most  of  them  were  un- 
dertaken. In  one  of  his  diaries  I  found  a  bitter  complaint 
of  the  waste  of  time  involved  in  having  to  wait  for  three 
hours  between  the  steamboat  and  train.  "  Why,"  he  asks, 
"  could  they  not  have  arranged  a  Meeting  for  me  ?  " 

One  who  has  travelled  8,000  miles  with  him  on  four 
Motor  Tours  says,  though  everybody,  everywhere,  press- 
men included,  were  of  necessity  impressed  with  his  sincerity 
and  transparency,  they  could  see  that  he  had  all  the  time 
only  one  object  in  view,  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Salva- 
tion of  souls. 

And  it  is  the  extent  to  which  he  led  all  ranks  into  the 
same  spirit  which  made  it  easy  for  arrangements  to  be 
made  and  carried  out  in  so  few  hours  for  the  very  largest 
demonstrations,  as  to  which  it  was  never  possible  to  hold 
any  approach  to  a  rehearsal,  those  joining  in  them  living 
usually  so  widely  apart  from  each  other. 


^02  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

An  occasional  private  letter  gives,  perhaps,  the  best  pos- 
sible explanation  of  his  own  heart  in  this  perpetual  motion 
towards  the  Cross.  Who  that  saw  him  in  some  grand 
demonstration  could  imagine  that  he  had  been  feeling  just 
before  it  as  this  letter  reveals : — 

"My  feelings  alternate;  but  my  faith  is  steadfast.  Morn- 
ing, noon,  and  night  I  tell  God  He  is  my  only  help.  He  will  not 
fail  me.  To-night's  Meeting  will  be,  as  you  say,  a  great 
strain;  but  the  memories  of  God's  goodness  encourage  me  to 
go  forward  in  spite  of  unutterable  sadness  and  gloom." 

And  who  that  heard  him  on  one  of  those  Congresses,  in 
which  a  great  company  of  his  Officers  and  Soldiers  felt 
themselves  to  be  feasting  on  heavenly  manna  for  days  to- 
gether, could  imagine  his  writing  the  week  after : — 

"If  ever  I  felt  my  full  agreement  with  my  Lord's  definition 
of  service  as  expressed  in  the  parable,  I  do  to-day.  After 
all,  I  am  a  poor,  unprofitable  servant,  and  I  have  lost  no  little 
sleep  since  Friday  night  in  criticising  regretfully  and  con- 
demning my  share  of  the  wonderful  Congress  that  has  cer- 
tainly taken  a  large  part  of  the  world  by  storm.  Neverthe- 
less, I  thank  God  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  for  the  part 
I  have  been  allowed  to  have  in  the  matter." 

Amongst  the  incidents  of  all  touring,  but  especially  of 
motoring,  are  storms  such  as  the  one  The  General  thus 
triumphed  over: — 

"We  are  still  rushing  on.  I  had  five  Meetings  yesterday, 
Friday,  and  an  hour's  ride  through  the  most  blinding  storm 
I  ever  encountered.  Two  of  our  cars  broke  down,  gave  up, 
and  retreated  to  the  nearest  town  for  the  night;  another  got 
through  in  a  damaged  condition,  and  three  with  difficulty  ar- 
rived at  our  destination.  However,  we  who  did  get  in,  were 
rewarded  with  a  big  audience  and  a  big  reception.  It  was 
very  wonderful.  I  am  now  reckoning  on  the  closing  Meeting 
which   takes   place  on   Wednesday   afternoon. 

"  Everybody  continues  to  bless  me  and  speak  well  of  me. 
Is  it  not  a  little  surprising,  and,  viewed  from  the  Master's 
standpoint,  a  little  dangerous?  You  must  keep  on  praying 
that  my  faith  fail  not.    Abundance  of  trying  things  await  me. 


MOTORING  TRIUMPHS  203 

I  must  wait  for  my  rest  *  until  the  Morning/    God  bless  you !  " 

Well  may  a  man  sometimes  long  for  rest  who  has  ex- 
periences like  the  following: — 

"  I  nearly  killed  myself  on  Saturday  and  Sunday  at  Bir- 
mingham. For  some  cause  or  other  both  throat  and  head  got 
wrong,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  I  could  frame  my  sentences 
or  pronounce  my  words,  and  yet  I  had  to  meet  the  great  op- 
portunity that  was  presented.  I  am  paying  the  price  to-day 
in  weariness  extreme.  There  is  hardly  a  bone  in  my  body 
that  does  not  ache,  or  a  nerve  that  does  not  seem  overstrung. 

"But  I  shall  rally  and  be  myself  again;  indeed,  I  must,  for 
things  of  vast  importance  have  to  be  attended  to  before  the 
day  is  out.  Our  exchequer  is  empty,  and  I  have  to  prepare 
for  my  autumn  Campaign  in  Holland,  Germany,  Italy,  etc." 

"A  mile  or  two  after  Penzance,  the  chauffeur  turned  to 
General  Booth,  and  *  Now  she's  waking  up ! '  he  said,  with  a 
satisfied  sigh,  as  the  great  car  began  to  hurry  through  the 
open   lanes. 

"  The  General  nodded  his  head  meditatively.  *  Yes,'  he  said, 
in  his  beard,  'people  have  to  wake  up  before  they  begin  to 
move.  England  wants  waking  up;  I'm  trying  to  wake  her 
up  myself,  just  a  little,  and  then  we  shall  move.' 

"  I  asked  him  what  he  made  of  our  national  apathy. 

"  He  shook  his  head.  *  I  don't  know  how  it  is,"  he  said, 
*but  people  are  somehow  afraid  to  examine  themselves,  afraid 
to  see  facts  as  facts.  There  is  a  spirit  in  England  which  is 
worse  than  opposition  to  religion;  it's  a  spirit  of — of — of  de- 
tachment, of  separation,  a  spirit  which  says,  "  I  don't  want 
you,  I  can  do  without  you;  and  so  long  as  you  leave  me  alone 
I  shan't  interfere  with  you."  It's  a  kind  of  slackness.  They 
want  waking  up.  They  want  rousing.  They  want  a  good 
shaking.  It  seems  as  if  they  have  fallen  into  a  deep  slumber 
—opium-eaters ! ' 

"  He  is  setting  out  to  rouse  England  once  again,  make  one 
great  final  effort  for  the  future  of  humanity.  The  future  of 
humanity,   he   believes,   can   only  be   secured   by   *  conversion.' 

"Look  at  him  in  his  car!  There  he  sits,  with  a  light-col- 
oured overcoat  buttoned  round  his  neck,  a  grey  forage  cap 
pressed  over  his  ears,  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  his  eyes  look- 
ing straight  ahead,  and  his  lips  biting  at  his  beard — an  old, 
old  man  in  the  newest  of  motor-cars. 


204  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"Through  lanes  where  Wesley  rode  his  horse,  poring  over 
a  book  as  he  went,  General  Booth  flies  in  his  beflagged  car — 
on  the  same  errand.  These  two  men,  so  dissimilar  in  nature, 
so  opposed  in  temperament,  and  separated  by  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years,  the  one  on  horseback,  the  other  in  a  motor-car, 
sought  and  are  seeking  the  same  elusive  end — the  betterment 
of  humanity. 

"  One  feels  as  one  rides  along  our  country  roads  with  Gen- 
eral Booth  the  enormous  force  of  simple  Christianity  in  this 
work  of  evolution.  One  sees  why  Wesley  succeeded,  and 
why  The  Salvation  Army  is  succeeding. 

"  *  We  make  too  much  of  sin,*  says  evolution.  *  We  don't 
make  half  enough  of  sin ! '  cries  The  General.  Politicians 
and  men  of  science  seem  like  scene-shifters  in  the  drama  of 
life,  and  religion  stands  out  clear  and  distinct  as  the  only  actor. 

"  *  People  have  taken  to  The  Salvation  Army  because  it's 
so  kind  to  poor  people,'  General  Booth  tells  me;  *they  know 
I  love  the  poor,  they  know  I  weep  bitterly  for  all  the  hunger 
and  nakedness  and  sorrow  in  the  world.  People  know  I'm 
sincere.  That's  it!  They  know  The  Salvation  Army  is  sin- 
cere, that  it's  doing  kind  actions,  and  helping  those  whom  no- 
body else  will  help  or  can  help.  That's  what  makes  us  popu- 
lar.    Sympathy.' 

"  But  the  secret  of  The  General  is  not  humaneness.  His 
secret  is  the  reality  with  which  he  invests  sin.  Hear  him 
talk  about  sin,  and  you  realise  the  man's  spell. 

"At  one  moment  he  is  full  of  humour  and  robust  talk,  a 
genial,  merry,  shrewd-eyed  old  gentleman;  at  the  next — at 
the  mention  of  real  sin — his  brows  contract,  his  eyes  flash, 
and  his  tongue  hisses  out  such  hatred  and  contempt  and  de- 
testation as  no  sybarite  could  find  on  the  tip  of  his  tongue 
for  anything  superlatively  coarse  or  ill-flavoured. 

"  *  Sin ! '  he  cries  to  me.  *  Sin  is  a  real  thing — a  damnable 
thing!  I  don't  care  what  science  calls  it,  or  what  some  of 
the  pulpits  are  calling  it.  I  know  what  it  is.  Sin  is  devilish. 
It  is  sin  and  only  sin  which  is  stopping  progress.  It  is  sin 
and  only  sin  which  prevents  the  world  from  being  happy. 
Sin!  Go  into  the  slums  of  the  great  cities — pick  up  little 
girls  of  six  years  of  age  sold  into  infamy  by  their  parents; 
look  at  the  drunken  mother  murdering  her  child,  the  father 
strapping  his  cripple  son — sin! — that's  what  I  call  sin;  some- 
thing beastly  and  filthy  and  devilish  and  nasty — nasty,  dread- 
fully nasty.' 


MOTORING  TRIUMPHS  205 

"As  you  listen  and  as  you  realise  that  The  Salvation  Army 
contains  numberless  men  changed  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye 
from  lives  of  such  sin  as  this  to  lives  of  beneficent  activity, 
you  begin  to  feel  that  General  Booth,  right  or  wrong,  has  at 
least  hit  upon  one  of  the  most  effective  ways  for  helping 
evolution. 

"  He  makes  sin  as  real  to  the  individual  as  only  the  mystics 
can  imagine  for  themselves.  Perhaps  humanity  likes  to  be 
told  how  black  it  is,  how  far  it  is  from  the  perfectness  after 
which  Nature  is  blundering  and  staggering.  I  know  not;  but 
it  is  manifest  that  when  this  grim  old  man,  with  the  ivory 
face,  the  black,  flashing  eyes,  the  tangle  of  white  hair  and 
the  tangle  of  beard,  leans  over  the  rostrum  and  calls  sin 
*  beastly '  and  *  devilish '  and  *  nasty '  the  people  sit  as  white 
and  spellbound  as  the  patient  of  the  hypnotist. 

"It  is  a  different  General  Booth  whom  the  villagers  flock 
to  see  as  he  drives,  smiling  and  genial,  through  Cornish  vil- 
lages, whom  the  band  plays  into  towns,  and  whom  mayors  and 
councillors  receive  with  honour.  But  the  reason  of  this  hon- 
our and  this  popularity  is  the  fact  that  he  is  a  force,  a  living, 
breathing  power  who  has  made  sin  real  to  the  world  and  has 
awakened  the  religious  consciousness  in  thousands  of  human 
beings." 


William  Booth  was  always  very  wide  awake  to  the  dis- 
couraging emptiness  of  mere  demonstrations,  and  never 
expressed  himself  more  contemptuously  with  regard  to  them 
than  when  he  thought  that  any  of  his  Officers,  in  the  midst 
of  some  grand  display,  which  was  attracting  unusual  atten- 
tion, seemed  to  be  likely  to  be  satisfied  with  the  show  of 
what  had  been  done,  instead  of  pressing  forward  to  greater 
things. 

Yet  he  saw  that,  in  presence  of  the  continual  and  en- 
thralling exhibitions  of  the  world,  there  was  absolute  need 
for  such  manifestations  of  united  force  as  might  encourage 
every  little  handful,  usually  toiling  out  of  sight,  and  con- 
vince the  world  that  we  were  determined  fully  to  overcome 
all  its  attractions. 

There  had  been  before  his  time  large  demonstrations  in 
favour  of  teetotalism,  and  in  some  parts  of  the  country 
the  Sunday  Schools  were  accustomed  annually  to  make  dis- 


206  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

plays  of  more  or  less  fashionably-dressed  children  and 
teachers.  But  The  General  was  alone  in  his  own  country 
and  time  in  organising  any  such  public  demonstrations  in 
honour  of  Christ,  and  of  total  abstinence  from  sin  and 
from  worldly-mindedness. 

How  perfectly  The  General  could  always  distinguish  be- 
tween the  enjoyment  of  demonstration  and  of  real  fighting, 
was  strikingly  manifested  on  one  of  our  great  Crystal  Pal- 
ace days.  Looking  down  from  the  balcony  upon  the  vast 
display,  when  some  50,000  Salvationists  were  taking  part 
in  various  celebrations,  he  noticed  a  comparatively  small 
ring  of  our  converted  mihtary  and  naval  men  kneeling  to- 
gether on  the  grass,  evidently  within  hearing  of  one  of  the 
band-stands  upon  which  one  Band  after  another  was  play- 
ing, according  to  programme. 

"  Go  and  stop  that  Band,"  said  he  to  one  of  his  A.D.C.*s. 
'*  We  must  not  have  those  praying  men  hindered  in  their 
fight  for  souls  by  the  music." 

And  this  was  only  one  example  of  his  frequent  abandon- 
ment of  any  programme,  or  practice,  or  arrangement  which 
seemed  to  him  only  to  have  demonstrative  effect,  when  any 
more  enduring  benefit  could  be  otherwise  secured. 

In  short,  demonstration  in  his  eyes  was  only  valued  at 
its  military  worth,  and  he  never  wished  any  one  to  become 
so  occupied  with  appearance  as  to  miss  enduring  victory. 

The  following  description,  by  a  writer  in  a  big  London 
daily,  of  one  of  The  General's  tours  might  be  fairly  ac- 
cepted as  a  sample  of  them  all,  and  as  giving  some  idea  of 
the  way  in  which  they  manifested  his  care  for  all  that  con- 
cerned men : — 

" '  An  easy  day '  was  The  Generars  description  of  that  on 
which  we  fared  to  mediaeval  Godalming,  through  the  beauti- 
ful Hindhead  region  to  Petersfield,  and  thence  in  the  evening 
to  antiquity  and  Winchester.  He  meant  that  he  had  only  to 
address  three  great  gatherings  (the  day's  course  admitted  of 
scarcely  any  of  the  customary  wayside  and  hamlet  musters), 
so  his  oratory  would  be  merely  a  matter  of  five  hours  or  there- 
abouts. There  were  solid  fact  in  The  General's  airy  desig- 
nation; it  was  an  easier  day  than  most  of  those  of  the  tour; 


MOTORING  TRIUMPHS  20T 

but  it  had  sundry  distinctions  of  its  own,  apart  from  the  great, 
welcoming  Meetings. 

"  It  was  curious  and  pleasant  to  see  gipsies  salute  The 
General  from  their  wayside  Bohemia  on  the  road  to  Hind- 
head;  it  was  deHghtful  to  see  The  General  himself  as  he  de- 
scended and  spoke  to  the  church  school-children  who  hailed 
him  by  the  wayside  at  Roke,  in  one  of  the  most  charming 
wayside  spots  on  the  journey.  They  stood  with  their  teachers 
under  the  trees  in  the  sunshine,  little  pictures  of  bloom  and 
happiness.  *  Now  wouldn't  you  like  to  be  running  round  the 
country  on  a  motor?'  he  asked  them  straight  away,  and  their 
answer  come  with  hearty  directness.  In  a  naive  and  tender 
little  speech,  that  had  a  touch  of  airiness,  he  told  them  of  the 
joy  of  motoring,  turning  anon  to  the  many  glad  and  beautiful 
things  within  the  reach  of  little  people  who  yet  might  not  go 
a-motoring,  and  so  in  simple  little  touches  appealing  to  the 
joy  of  life  and  soul  that  the  child-sense  could  understand. 

"'Isn't  he  like  Father  Christmas?'  a  little  girl  was  heard 
to  whisper.  Here  he  charmed  those  in  the  morning  of  life; 
away  at  Petersfield  in  the  afternoon  the  sight  of  him  consoled 
some  in  life's  evening.  One  poor  old  lady,  who  had  lost  the 
use  of  both  limbs,  was  carried  to  her  door  and  set  in  a  bath- 
chair,  and  there  she  remained  till  The  General  had  passed. 
We  noticed  the  light  on  her  face,  and  how  vehemently  she 
waved  her  handkerchief.  An  Army  Officer  chatted  with  her 
before  we  left  the  town  in  the  evening.  *  I  can  now  die 
happy,*  she  said ;  *  I  have  seen  The  General.  And  when  the 
call  comes  I  know  that  God  will  send  down  the  hallelujah 
motor  for  me,  and  the  loss  of  my  old  limbs  won't  matter  in 
the  least.* 

"  I  have  mentioned  '  an  easy  day.'  Having  now  described 
in  a  broad  way  the  typical  early  stages,  it  may  be  well,  in  a 
somewhat  more  intimate  and  personal  way,  to  give  an  idea 
of  the  work,  moods,  and  trend  of  the  average  day  of  the  whole 
tour.  The  stress  and  excitement  it  meant  in  the  long  stretch 
of  country  from  the  first  town  to  the  last  were  extraordinary. 
We  mustered,  as  a  rule,  at  nine  in  the  morning  for  the  day's 
work  and  travel,  most  of  the  folk  of  the  town  where  the  night 
had  been  spent  turning  out  for  the  send-off. 

"The  General  was  on  the  scene  almost  invariably  to  the 
minute.  Nearly  always  at  those  starts  he  looked  grave,  re- 
signed, and  calm,  but  unexpectedly  careworn.  It  was  as  if 
he  had  wrestled  with  all  his  problems,  with  a  hundred  world- 


208  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

issues  in  the  watches  of  the  night,  and  was  still  in  the  throes 
of  them,  and  unable  for  the  moment  to  concentrate  his  atten- 
tion on  the  immediate  town  and  crowd  that  hurrah'd  around 
him.  But,  of  course,  he  stood  up  and  acknowledged  the 
plaudits — though  often  as  one  in  a  dream.  But  the  pictur- 
esqueness  of  his  appearance  in  the  morning  sunshine — with 
his  white  hair,  grave  face,  and  green  motor  garb — took  the 
imagination  of  the  mass,  and  without  a  word  from  him  the 
people  were  left  happy. 

"He  looked  a  new  personality  at  the  first  important  stop- 
ping-place, reached  usually  about  an  hour  before  noon.  His 
air  and  mood  when  he  stepped  to  the  platform  for  the  public 
Meeting  had  undergone  a  radiant  change;  all  the  more  radiant, 
we  noticed,  if  the  children  who  had  hailed  him  from  the  way- 
sides had  been  many  and  strenuous.  There  was  something  of 
the  child  in  his  own  face  as  he  stepped  to  the  platform's  edge, 
and  replied  to  the  enthusiasm  of  the  house  by  clapping  his 
own  hands  to  the  people.  There  was  always  something  naive 
and  delightful  in  The  General's  preliminary  task  of  applauding 
the  audience. 

"  Here  came  his  first  important  address  of  the  day,  lasting 
an  hour  and  a  half,  or  even  longer.  It  had  many  *  notes,' 
and  displayed  The  General  in  many  moods.  He  was  apt  to  be 
facetious  and  drily  humorous  at  first.  He  had  racy  stories  to 
tell — and  none  can  tell  a  story  for  the  hundredth  time  with 
fresh  zest  than  he — in  illustration  of  the  old  and  bitter  preju- 
dices against  The  Army.  A  typical  one  was  that  of  an  old 
woman,  arrested  for  the  hundredth  time  for  being  drunk  and 
disorderly,  who  was  given  the  option  of  going  to  prison  or 
being  passed  over  to  The  Salvation  Army.  Too  drunk  to  real- 
ise what  she  did,  she  decided  for  the  latter.  She  was  kindly 
tended,  set  in  a  clean  cosy  bed,  and  watched  over  by  a  sister 
till  the  morning.  When  she  woke  the  sunlight  streamed 
through  the  window,  and  the  happy,  unaccustomed  surround- 
ings surprised  her.  *  Where  am  I  ? '  she  exclaimed  in  be- 
wilderment. *  You  are  with  The  Salvation  Army,'  said  the 
sister  kindly  and  softly.  *  Oh,  goodness  gracious,'  roared  the 
old  woman,  *  take  me  away,  or  I'll  lose  my  reputation ! ' 

"  Often  in  these  long  and  comprehensive  addresses  The  Gen- 
eral told  how  he  found  the  work  of  his  life.  He  was  never 
so  impressive  as  at  this  stage.  And  the  tale  in  its  intensity 
was  ever  new.  His  language  was  nervous,  intense,  almost 
Biblical,  his  figure  suggestive  of  a  patriarch's  in  a  tragedy. 


MOTORING  TRIUMPHS  209 

*  Sixty  years  ago — sixty  years  ago — sixty  years  ago/  each  time 
with  a  different  and  a  grimmer  intonation — *the  Spirit  of  the 
Living  God  met  me.  ...  I  was  going  down  the  steep  incline 
when  the  great  God  stopped  me,  and  made  me  think/ 

"  In  the  last  stage  of  his  address  he  was  the  coloniser,  the 
statesman,  the  social  wizard  who  would  recast  character  and 
rearrange  humanity.  He  gave  an  epic  sense  to  the  story  of 
emigration  and  colonisation.  But  he  was  invariably  clear  and 
lucid  in  his  detail,  so  that  the  immediate  and  practical  meaning 
of  it  all  was  never  lost  on  the  mayors,  and  corporation  and 
council  worthies,  who  heard  him.  Then  miles  and  miles  away 
at  the  second  important  stopping-place  in  the  early  afternoon, 
after  incidental  wayside  speeches  and  idylls,  he  went  over  the 
same  ground  in  a  further  address  of  an  hour  or  more.  Some- 
how in  the  afternoon  he  appeared  to  speak  with  added  indi- 
viduality and  passion,  as  if  the  wants  and  woes  of  the  world 
had  been  growing  upon  him  since  the  morning. 

"  A  needed  rest,  perhaps  a  little  sleep,  then  away  once  more 
by  the  waysides  and  through  the  welcoming  hamlets.  The 
third  and  last  great  stopping-stage  was  reached,  as  a  rule, 
about  eight  o'clock.  He  typified  serene  old  age  as  he  stood 
up  in  the  white  car,  passing  the  long  lines  of  cheering  human- 
ity. Here  in  the  evening  light  it  was  not  easy  to  regard  him 
as  a  propagandist.  He  might  be  a  study  for  Father  Christ- 
mas, or  a  philosopher  who  dealt  much  in  abstractions  and 
knew  little  of  men.  The  General  who,  twenty  minutes  later, 
proclaimed  his  spiritual  truths  and  his  social  ideals  to  a  new 
audience,  seemed,  once  more,  an  absolutely  different  person- 
ality. Often  at  these  evening  meetings  he  spoke  for  the  bet- 
ter part  of  two  hours." 


Chapter  XXII 

OUR  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM 

The  continued  strain  to  raise  the  money  needed  for  the 
work  was,  undoubtedly,  to  WilHam  Booth  the  greatest  part 
of  his  burden  all  the  way  through  life.  And  it  is  to  this 
day  the  puzzle  which  makes  it  most  difficult  to  write  as  to 
The  Army's  finances.  On  the  one  hand,  we  have  to  praise 
God  for  having  helped  him  so  cheerily  to  shoulder  his  cross 
that  he  did  not  seem  many  times  to  feel  the  burden  that 
was  almost  crushing  him  to  the  ground,  and  hindering  all 
sorts  of  projects  he  would  gladly  have  carried  out.  Yet, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  must  guard  against  saying  anything 
that  could  lead  to  the  impression  that  The  Army  has  now 
got  to  the  top  of  its  hill  of  difficulty,  and  needs  no  more  of 
the  help,  in  small  sums  as  well  as  in  big  ones,  that  has  been 
so  generously  sent  to  it. 

It  would  be  hopeless  to  attempt  to  estimate  the  numbers 
of  appeals  The  General  sent  out  in  any  one  year,  for  he 
not  only  tried  at  fixed  periods  to  get  for  his  various  funds 
truly  interested  subscribers,  but  was  always  seeking  to  link 
the  hearty  giver  with  the  deserving  receivers. 

But  perhaps  the  very  extremity  of  his  one  need  helped 
him  with  the  most  practical  wisdom  to  avoid  all  unneces- 
sary expenditure,  and  to  cultivate  all  those  habits  of  econ- 
omy and  systematic  effort  which  alone  made  it  possible  to 
keep  up  so  vast  a  work  mainly  by  the  gifts  of  the  poor.  To 
this  very  day  it  is  the  same  old  struggle  to  get  each  £5  thaf 
is  wanted  together.  Yet  all  of  it  is  precious  to  us  because 
it  so  guarantees  exemption  from  indifference,  and  the  per- 
vasion of  all  our  ranks  everywhere  with  the  principles  of 
self-help  which  The  General  always  so  inculcated  as  to  make 
The  Army  everywhere  independent  of  the  wealthy,  yet  their 
trusted  and  skilful  almoners. 

210 


OUR  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  ^11 

Rejoicing  as  we  do  in  all  that,  we  cannot  too  strongly 
guard  every  one  against  the  impression  that  The  Army  has 
become,  either  at  its  centre,  or  anywhere  else,  so  situated 
that  there  is  not  at  any  given  moment  extraordinary  strain 
in  some  financial  direction.  It  has  come  to  be  very  gen- 
erally known  that  the  individual  Officer  can  only  keep  in 
existence  because  he  has  schooled  his  desires  to  be  content 
with  what  others  all  around  would  regard  as  "an  impos- 
sible pittance." 

We  hear  one  day  of  a  great  city  where  the  conditions  of 
life  are  such  that  a  Rescue  Home  is  evidently  urgently 
needed,  and  the  lady  who  calls  our  attention  to  the  matter 
offers  at  once  to  find  £500  towards  the  fitting-up  of  such  a 
Home.  But  we  know  that  to  keep  it  up  requires  gifts 
amounting  to  some  thousands  of  pounds  each  year,  which, 
if  not  subscribed  locally,  we  shall  have  to  provide  from 
Headquarters. 

Now  what  is  to  be  done?  Are  we  to  stand  still  with 
what  seems  to  us  so  valuable  an  offer,  not  only  of  money- 
helps  but  of  opportunity  to  help?  Under  the  circumstances 
we  know  what  The  General  would  have  done.  He  would 
without  a  moment's  hesitation  have  said :  "  This  ought  to 
be  done,  and  must  be  done " ;  and,  trusting  in  God,  he 
would  have  made  the  other  step  forward,  though  perfectly 
conscious  that  it  would  probably  involve  him  in  new  cares 
and  anxieties. 

"  Four  shillings  and  tenpence.  Now,  really,  can't  we 
manage  that  twopence  to  make  five  shillings?" 

Such  an  appeal,  heard  at  a  street-corner,  where  one  of 
our  Open-Air  Meetings  is  being  closed,  is,  I  fear,  the  first 
and  last  that  many  people  hear  of  The  Salvation  Army. 
They  have  not  been  present  at  the  Meeting.  All  the  beau- 
tiful speaking  and  singing  of  happy  men  and  women,  anx- 
ioi!S  to  do  anything  they  can  for  the  good  of  others — of 
this  the  passers-by  know  nothing.  Many  of  them  "  would 
not  be  seen  standing  to  listen  "  amidst  the  crowd,  still  less 
when,  for  want  of  any  considerable  crowd,  they  would  be 
more  conspicuous.  Hence  they  have  no  chance  to  see  or 
know  what  really  takes  place.     Had  they  even  seen  the 


212  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

whole  process  of  getting  that  four  shilhngs  and  tenpence 
they  would  have  noted  that  most  of  the  money  really  came 
from  the  Salvationists  forming  the  ring,  who  threw  their 
pence,  or  sixpences,  gradually,  in  the  hope  of  inciting  others 
to  do  likewise. 

As  it  is,  I  fear,  many  go  their  way  "  disgusted  at  the 
whole  thing,"  because  of  the  little  scrap  of  it  they  have 
overheard. 

But,  pray,  what  is  the  essential  difference  between  the 
call  for  "  twopence  to  make  up  a  shilling,"  and  the  colossal 
call  made  in  the  name  of  some  royal  personage  for  "  an  ad- 
ditional ten  thousand  pounds  "  to  make  up  the  £25,000 
needed  for  a  new  hospital  wing?  Surely,  a  hospital,  whose 
value  and  services  commend  it  to  the  entire  population 
should  need  no  such  spurs  as  subscription  lists  published  in 
all  the  papers,  or  even  the  memory  of  a  world  benefactor 
to  help  it  to  get  the  needed  funds.  But  it  does,  and  its 
energetic  promoters,  be  they  royal  or  not,  deserve  and  get 
universal  praise  for  "  stooping  " — if  it  be  stooping — to  any 
device  of  this  kind  needed  to  get  the  cash.  Do  they  get 
it  ?  is  the  only  question  any  sensible  person  asks. 

And  nobody  questions  that  our  "  stooping  "  Officers  and 
"  begging  Sisters "  get  the  twopences  and  shillings  and 
pounds  needed  to  keep  The  Army  going,  in  spite  of  all  its 
critics — whether  of  the  blatant  street-corner,  or  of  the  kid- 
gloved  slanderer  type. 

If  we  reflect  upon  the  subject  we  shall  see  how  sound  and 
valuable  are  the  principles  on  which  all  our  twopenny  ap- 
peals are  based. 

From  the  very  beginning  The  General  always  set  up 
the  standard  of  local  self-support  as  one  of  the  essentials 
of  any  real  wt)rk.  Whilst  labouring  almost  exclusively 
amongst  the  poorest  of  the  poor,  he  wrote,  in  1870: — 

"The  entire  cost  of  carrying  on  the  Mission  at  present  is 
about  £50  per  week.  The  offerings  of  the  people  themselves 
at  the  various  stations  are  now  about  £17  per  week;  indeed, 
nearly  every  Station  is  paying  its  own  working  expenses. 
Thus  the  poor  people  themselves  do  something.  This  they 
ought  to  do.    It  would  be  wrong  to  deprive  them  of  the  privi- 


m 


EMMA    BOOTH-TUCKER 
Born  January  8th.  1860.     Died  October  28tb,  1903. 


OUR  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  213 

lege  of  giving  their  mite,  and  if  they  prize  the  instrumentali- 
ties that  have  been  blessed  to  them,  and  are  rightly  instructed, 
they  will  cheerfully  give,  however  small  their  contribution 
may  be." 

It  has  only  been  by  clinging  to  this  plan  that  the  little 
Society,  begun  in  the  East  of  London,  has  been  able  to 
spread  itself  throughout  the  world  and  yet  remain  inde- 
pendent, everywhere,  of  local  magnates.  And  The  Gen- 
eral had  the  sorry  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  structure  tested 
by  the  most  cruel  winds  of  slander  and  suspicion,  with  the 
result  that  the  total  of  contributions  to  its  funds  during  the 
last  years  has  been  greater  than  ever  before.  Part,  in- 
deed, of  our  greatest  difficulty  with  regard  to  money  now 
is  the  large  total  yearly  at  our  disposal,  when  all  the  totals 
in  every  country  and  locality  are  added  together.  Any  one 
can  understand  that  this  must  be  so,  and  that  it  could  not 
help  us  to  publish  the  amount  all  together.  If  in  a  hun- 
dred places  only  a  thousand  pounds  were  raised,  anybody 
can  see  that  to  cry  aloud  about  the  hundred  thousand  in  any 
one  of  those  places  could  not  but  make  everybody  in  that 
place  less  capable  of  strenuous  struggle  such  as  is  needed 
to  get  together  each  thousand. 

Therefore,  whilst  publishing  every  year  the  properly 
audited  balance-sheet  referring  to  amounts  received  and 
spent  in  London,  and  similar  balance-sheets,  similarly 
audited,  in  each  other  capital,  we  have  always  refrained, 
and  always  shall  refrain,  from  any  such  massing  of  totals, 
or  glorying  in  any  of  them,  as  could  help  our  enemies  to 
check  the  flow  of  liberality  anywhere. 

When,  in  1895,  there  seemed  to  be  a  general  cry  for 
some  special  investigation  into  the  use  made  of  the  Fund 
raised  as  a  result  of  The  General's  "  Darkest  England  " 
Appeal,  we  were  able  to  get  a  Commission  of  some  of  the 
most  eminent  men  in  the  country,  whose  Report  effectively 
disposed  of  any  doubts  at  the  time. 

The  Commission  had  for  Chairman  Earl  Onslow,  and 
its  members  were  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  Henry  James  (after- 
wards Lord  James),  Messrs.  Sydney  Buxton,  Walter  Long, 
and  Mr.  Edwin  Waterhouse,  President  of  the  Institute  of 


214  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

Chartered  Accountants,  the  Right  Hon.  Hobhouse,  M.P., 
acted  as  Secretary. 

The  Report  of  no  Commission  could,  however,  still  any- 
hostile  tongue.  The  cry  for  ''investigation"  has  always 
been  simply  the  cry  of  enmity  or  envy,  which  no  amount 
of  investigation  could  ever  satisfy.  The  General  per- 
fectly understood  this  at  the  time,  and  wrote  to  a  friend 
of  the  discerning  order: — 

"  How  I  feel  generally  with  respect  to  the  future  is  ex- 
pressed in  one  word,  or  rather  two,  *  Go  forward.'  The  Red 
Sea  has  to  be  crossed  and  the  people  rescued  from  Hell  here 
and  Hell  hereafter.    We  must  stick  to  our  post. 

"  I  am  quite  aware  that  I  may  now,  probably  shall  be,  more 
misunderstood  than  ever.  But  God  and  time  will  fight  for 
me.     I  must  wait,  and  my  comrades  must  wait  with  me. 

"I  need  not  say  that  the  subject  has  had,  and  still  has,  our 
fullest  consideration;  but  I  cannot  say  more  until  I  see  clearly 
what  position  the  country  will  take  up  towards  me  during 
the  next  few  days." 

Need  I  say  that  this  Report  never  checked  for  one  day 
the  ferocity  of  the  attacks  upon  the  General  or  his  Army. 
Had  public  opinion  been  deluded  by  the  babblings  of  our 
critics  in  any  country  we  should  not  only  have  lost  all 
support,  but  been  consigned  to  jails  as  swindlers  and  rob- 
bers. But  the  fact  that  we  get  ever-increasing  sums,  and 
are  ever  more  and  more  aided  by  grants  from  Govern- 
ments and  Corporations,  or  by  permissions  for  street-col- 
lecting, is  the  clearest  demonstration  that  we  are  notoriously 
upright  in  all  our  dealings. 

So  many  insinuations  have  been  persistently  thrown  out, 
year  after  year,  with  regard  to  the  integrity  of  The  Gen- 
eral's dealings  with  finance,  that  I  have  taken  care  not 
merely  to  consult  with  comrades,  but  to  give  opportunity 
to  some  who  were  said  to  "  have  left  in  disgust "  with  re- 
gard to  these  matters,  to  correct  my  own  impression  if 
they  could. 

Having  been  so  little  at  Headquarters  myself  since  I 
left  for  Germany,  in  1890,  I  knew  that  my  own  personal 


OUR  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  215 

knowledge  might  be  disputed,  and  my  accuracy  ques- 
tioned; therefore,  I  have  been  extra  careful  to  ascertain, 
beyond  all  possibility  of  dispute,  the  correctness  of  the 
view  I  now  give. 

One  who  for  many  years  had  the  direction  of  financial 
affairs  at  the  International  Headquarters,  and  who  retired 
through  failing  health  rather  than  become  a  burden  upon 
the  Army's  ever-strained  exchequer,  wrote  me  on  Novem- 
ber 28,  1910  : — 

"  The  General  has  always  taken  the  keenest  interest  in  all 
questions  bearing  upon  The  Army's  financial  affairs,  and  has 
ever  been  alive  to  the  necessity  for  their  being  so  adminis- 
tered as  to  ensure  the  contributing  public's  having  the  utmost 
possible  value  for  the  money  contributed,  at  the  same  time 
rendering  a  careful  account  from  year  to  year  of  his  steward- 
ship. 

"  Carefully  prepared  budgets  of  income  and  expenditure  are 
submitted  to  him  year  by  year  in  connexion  with  all  the  cen- 
tral funds,  reports  are  called  for  from  time  to  time  as  to  the 
extent  to  which  such  estimates  have  been  realised. 

"  He  was  always  keen  and  far-sighted  in  his  consideration 
of  the  proposals  put  before  him,  and  quick  to  find  a  flaw  or 
weakness,  or  to  point  out  any  responsibilities  which  had  not 
been  sufficiently  taken  into  account. 

"  Until  recent  years,  when  his  world-wide  journeyings  made 
it  necessary  to  pass  the  responsibility  on  to  the  Chief  of  the 
Staff,  he  largely  initiated  his  own  schemes  for  raising  money, 
and  wrote  his  own  principal  appeals. 

"  Those  who  refer  to  The  General  as  *  a  puppet  in  the  hands 
of  others,'  or  as  anything  but  an  unselfish,  disinterested  serv- 
ant of  humanity,  only  show  their  ignorance  of  their  subject." 

One  of  the  schemes  by  which  our  finances  have  been 
greatly  helped  everywhere,  and  which  is  now  imitated  by 
many  Churches  and  Societies  all  over  the  world — the  Self- 
Denial  Week,  established  in  1886 — was  The  General's  own 
invention.     It  was  at  a  time  when,  as  he  writes  : — 

"  In  some  Corps  half,  and  in  some  more  than  half,  of  our 
Soldiers  have  been  for  months  without  any  income  at  all,  or 


S16  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

at  most  with  just  a  shilling  or  two.  In  addition,  many  of  our 
regular  contributors,  as  owners  of  land  or  of  manufacturing 
houses,  have  suffered  from  the  depression,  and  have  not  been 
able  to  assist  us  further. 

"  The  rapid  extension  of  The  Army  has  necessitated  an 
increased  expenditure.  Our  friends  will  see  that  our  posi- 
tion is  really  a  serious  one. 

"  What  is  to  be  done  ?  Reduction,  which  means  retreat,  is 
impossible.     To  stand  still  is  equally  so. 

"  We  propose  that  a  week  be  set  apart  in  which  every  Sol- 
dier and  friend  should  deny  himself  of  some  article  of  food  or 
clothing,  or  some  indulgence  which  can  be  done  without,  and 
that  the  price  gained  by  this  self-denial  shall  be  sent  to  help 
us  in  this  emergency. 

"  Deny  yourself  of  something  which  brings  you  pleasure  or 
gratification,  and  so  not  only  have  the  blessing  of  helping  us, 
but  the  profit  which  this  self-denial  will  bring  to  your  own 
soul." 

This  effort,  which  in  the  year  of  its  inauguration  only 
produced  4,280,  has  in  twenty-six  years  grown  till  it  to- 
talled in  Great  Britain  in  191 1,  £67,161,  and  has  so  taken 
hold  of  the  people's  minds  and  hearts  everywhere  as  to  pro- 
duce even  in  poor  little  Belgium  last  year  7,500  f. 

Perhaps  it  need  hardly  be  explained  that  the  system 
of  special  effort  and  special  begging  near  the  entrance  to 
railway  stations,  and  in  all  the  most  prominent  places  of 
the  cities,  which  has  grow^  out  of  this  week,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  Governments  and  Press  everywhere,  has  done 
more  than  any  one  could  have  dreamt  of  to  increase  in- 
terest in  the  needs  of  others,  and  holiness  and  self-denial 
in  attending  to  them. 

And  it  is,  after  all,  upon  that  development  of  practical 
love  for  everybody  that  The  Army's  finance  depends. 

Merely  to  have  interested  so  many  rich  people  in  The 
Army  might  have  been  a  great  credit  to  The  General's 
influence,  but  to  have  raised  up  everywhere  forces  of  vol- 
untary mendicants  who,  at  any  rate,  for  weeks  at  a  time 
are  not  ashamed  to  be  seen  begging  in  the  streets  for  the 
good  of  people  they  have  never  seen,  is  an  achievement 
simply  boundless  in  its  beneficent  value  to  all  mankind,  and 


OUR  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  21T 

limitless  in  the  guarantee  it  provides  for  the  permanent 
maintenance  and  extension  of  our  work. 

Do  let  me  beg  you  to  realise  a  little  of  the  intense 
interest  taken  in  our  finances  locally  by  all  our  Soldiers. 
Did  you  ever  get  to  know  one  of  our  Corps  Treasurers? 
If  not,  believe  me,  that  your  education  is  incomplete. 
Whether  he  or  she  be  schoolmistress  in  the  mining  vil- 
lage of  Undergroundby,  slxopkeeper  in  Birmingham,  or 
cashier  of  a  London  or  Parisian  bank,  you  will  find  an 
experienced  Salvation  Army  Treasurer  generally  one  of  the 
most  fully-developed  intelligences  living.  He  or  she  could 
easily  surpass  Judas  Iscariot  himself,  either  for  ability  at 
bargaining,  or  for  what  we  call  "  Salvation  cheek."  He 
considers  the  Duke  who  owns  most  of  his  county,  or  the 
Mayor  of  the  city,  is  "  duty  bound  "  to  help  The  Army 
whenever  its  Officer  thinks  a  fitting  moment  has  come  to 
him  to  ask  them  to  do  so — and  the  Treasurer  never  thinks 
that  they  already  have  helped  us  enough. 

Every  farthing  his  Corps  has  received  or  paid,  for  years 
past,  has  passed  through  his  careful  fingers.  In  any  city 
Corps  I  would  accept  his  judgment  about  a  "  doubtful " 
coin  before  that  of  almost  any  one.  And  no  human  being 
could  surpass  him  in  eagerness  or  care  to  get  the  very  ut- 
termost possible  value  for  every  penny  spent.  Hours  after 
great  Meetings  are  over  you  may  find  him  wHth  other  of- 
ficers busy  still  parcelling  coppers,  or  in  some  other  way 
"  serving  tables."  His  own  business  or  family  would  very 
often  suffer  for  his  late  hours  of  toil  in  the  cause,  if  God 
allowed  that  sort  of  thing.  But  God  has  seen  to  it  that 
many  such  a  Treasurer  has  climbed  out  of  the  very  gutter 
into  a  well-to-do  employer's  position,  because  he  sought 
first  His  Kingdom  and  His  righteousness. 

These  Treasurers,  if  anybody  took  the  trouble  to  inter- 
view them,  would  make  it  impossible  for  any  decent  person 
to  believe  the  lies  that  have  been  told  about  our  ''  not  pub- 
lishing accounts,"  our  "  extravagance,"  etc.  They  know 
how  carefully  even  the  smallest  Corps  book  or  collecting- 
card  is  examined,  and  with  what  precise  and  skilful  method 
every  account  is  kept. 


218  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

Like  almost  all  our  Local  Officers,  they  are  particularly 
cheery,  friendly  men  and  women.  I  fear  we  have  but 
few  women  Treasurers,  as  finance,  like  so  many  other 
things,  is  supposed  to  be  "  beyond  women's  powers,"  and 
the  sisters  really  do  not,  as  a  rule,  like  arithmetic.  But  man 
or  woman,  you  have  only  to  watch  one  of  them  a  few 
moments,  when  anybody  is  trying  to  arrange  a  joint  ex- 
cursion with  various  Corps,  to  see  that,  with  all  their  kind- 
liness, the  interests  committed  to  their  charge  always 
command  their  first  sympathy.  Treasurer  Pitman,  of 
Leatherby,  **  never  could  see,"  and  never  will,  why  either 
Birmingham  I  or  Leamington,  or  any  other  Corps,  should 
be  more  favoured,  or  more  burdened,  than  his  own.  Even 
should  his  words  at  times  seem  rough,  or  few,  he  will 
charm  you,  almost  without  exception,  if  you  get  out  of 
his  wife  or  the  Captain,  or  somebody,  all  he  does  and 
suffers  for  Christ's  sake.  Nobody  will  ever  know  how 
often  it  was  the  Treasurer  who  gave  half  the  "  twopence 
to  make  up  a  shilling  "  in  the  street-corner  collection  that, 
perhaps,  made  the  impression  that  The  Army  was  "  not 
self-supporting!" 

But,  in  spite  of  all  his  jollity,  the  Treasurer  is  often 
a  sorely-tried  and  burdened  man.  For,  Oh,  it  is  a  struggle 
to  get  the  pence  together,  week  after  week,  especially  where 
the  Corps  has  a  "  Hall  of  its  own,"  for  ground  rent  and 
interest  on  which  it  must  pay  £5  to  £10  a  week ! 

The  Treasurer's  great  opportunity  comes  when  he  has 
the  joy  of  harbouring  in  his  owjn  home,  for  a  night  or 
two,  the  Chief  of  the  StafT,  or  some  other  "  Special  from 
London."  Then  he  may  get  a  chance  to  "  put  a  word  in  " 
for  his  Corps. 

Does  the  Chief  ask  him,  "  Why  do  we  not  get  on  better 
in  this  town  ?  " 

'"  Well,  Chief,"  he  will  reply,  "  just  look  at  our  Hall.  It 
fairly  stinks — always  has  done,  owing  to  that  canal  at  the 
back.  That  has  almost  made  it  impossible  for  us  to  get  a 
large  congregation,  especially  in  warm  weather." 

"  But  why  don't  you  get  a  better  place?  " 

"Well,  there  is  nothing  in  the  town  large  enough  to 


OUR  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  ai9 

let,  and  as  for  building — any  site  that  would  be  of  use 
would  cost  a  pile  of  money,  and  we  have  no  hope  of 
raising  any  large  sum  here." 

"  Why  ?     Have  you  no  rich  friends  ?  " 

"  There  are  a  few  very  rich  men  here.  I  was  seeing 
one  of  them  myself  only  last  month  when  we  wanted  to 
get  some  new  instruments  for  our  Band.  But  wliat  do  you 
think  he  said  to  me  ? 

"  *  Why/  said  he,  *  I  have  more  than  enough  to  do  to 
keep  up  my  own  church.  We  have  got  to  rebuild  it,  and 
it  will  cost  us  £30,000.' '' 

"  There  is  not  a  mill-owner  in  the  place  who  does  not 
want  to  get  Salvationist  workpeople,  even  to  the  boys  of 
our  Soldiers,  because  they  know  they  can  depend  on  them. 
But  to  help  us  to  get  a  Hall !  Ah !  *  that  is  not  in  their 
line.' " 

Therefore,  the  Treasurer  and  every  Officer  must  go  on 
week  after  week,  with  the  miserable  beg,  beg,  beg,  which 
afflicts  them,  perhaps,  even  more  than  the  most  critical 
listener.  And  then  our  great  work  must  suffer  both  for 
want  of  the  needed  plant  to  carry  it  on,  and  from  the  ap- 
pearance of  too  much  begging,  which,  in  so  many  instances, 
has  undoubtedly  hindered  our  gathering  in  the  very  people 
we  most  wished  to  help. 

What  stories  of  self-denial,  not  one  week  in  the  year 
more  than  another,  any  such  Treasurer  could  tell!  How 
Officers  managed  to  rear  a  healthy  and  promising  family 
upon  less  than  a  pound  a  week :  how  The  General's  own 
granddaughters  "  made  six  shillings  a  week  do  "  for  their 
personal  support,  for  months,  because  their  Corps  could 
not  afford  more:  how  the  Sergeant-Major's  wife  did  her 
washing  during  the  night  "  before  Self-Denial  Week  came 
on,"  so  as  to  be  able  to  stand  all  day  long  outside  the 
station,  in  the  cold,  collecting:  how  widow  Weak  "keeps 
up  her  cartridges  " ;  that  is  to  say,  goes  on  giving  the 
Corps  a  regular  subscription  of  sixpence  a  week  since  her 
husband's  death,  as  before,  "  lest  the  Corps  should  go 
down." 

Lately  they  took  me  to  see  a  German  widow,  now  suf- 


220  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

fering  in  a  hospital,  who  when  her  whole  weekly  cash  earn- 
ings outside  only  totalled  two  shillings  a  week,  invariably 
"  put  in  her  cartridge  "  two  pfennigs,  say  a  farthing.  No. 
I  gave  her  nothing,  nor  did  anybody  else  in  my  presence, 
as  her  needs  are  now  attended  to ;  and  I  am  sure  she  would 
rather  keep  up  the -fact  of  never  having  received  anything 
from,  but  always  having  given  to.  The  Army. 

Of  course  we  do  not  pretend  that  all  Treasurers  and 
Soldiers  are  of  the  model  sort.  If  they  were,  many  of 
our  bitterest  financial  struggles  would  never  occur.  If 
everybody  who  "  kept  back  part "  of  what  they  ought  to 
give  to  God  were  struck  dead  for  singing  such  words  as — 

Were  the  whole  realm  of  nature  mine. 
That  were  a  present  far  too  small, 

God  would  need  many  a  regiment  of  corpse  carriers,  I 

fear. 

The  General,  seventeen  years  ago,  wrote  to  a  wealthy 

lady  who  had  been  excusing  somebody's  want  of  liberality 

to  us  by  some  of  the  slanders  they  had  heard. 

"  Tell  your  friends  in  Gull-town  the  same  that  I  am  telling 
the  public:  that  nine  out  of  every  ten  statements  in  the  Press 
that  reflect  upon  us  are  either  out-and-out  falsehoods  or  '  half- 
lies'  which  are  worse  still;  and  that,  though  not  infallible, 
when  in  one  case  out  of  ten  we  do  make  mistakes,  there  are 
circumstances  which,  if  known,  would  excuse  them  very 
largely. 

"  I  am  having  wonderful  Meetings — immense  crowds,  soul- 
awakening  influences  all  day — Penitent-Forms;  back-sliders, 
sinners  and  half-and-half  saints  coming  back  to  God.  Never 
saw  anything,  anywhere,  in  any  part  of  my  life,  much  more 
blessed. 

"  Read  my  letter  in  The  War  Cry  about  the  Two  Days — 
every  word  as  from  my  heart. 

"  Money  or  no  money,  we  must  and  will  have  Salvation. 
If  the  rich  won't  help  Lazarus  through  us,  then  their  money 
must  perish.     We  must  do  the  best  we  can. 

"  Join  the  Light  Brigade,  and  give  a  halfpenny  per  week ! 
We  shall  get  through.  Is  your  soul  prospering?  Cast  your- 
self this  morning  on  your  Lord  for  a  supply  of  all  your  need." 


OUR  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  ^21 

This  "  Light  Brigade  "  is  another  invention  of  the  Gen- 
eral's, partly  founded  upon  the  Indian  habit  of  taking  a 
handful  out  of  every  new  supply  of  food,  and  laying  it  aside 
for  the  priests. 

The  *'  Light  Brigade  "  consists  of  Soldiers  and  friends 
who  place  on  their  table  a  little  box,  into  which  all  who 
like  can  drop  a  little  coin  by  way  of  thanksgiving  to  God 
and  care  for  the  poor  before  they  eat.  These  are  called 
"  Grace-be  fore-Meat ''  Boxes,  and  in  England  alone  they 
produced  last  year  £8,284  17^.  2d.  for  the  support  of  our 
Social  Work. 

Altogether  I  venture  to  say  it  will  be  found  that  for 
every  shilling  he  ever  got  anywhere  he  prompted  the  giving 
of  at  least  a  thousand  shillings  to  other  benevolent  enter- 
prises, and  that  mankind  is  indebted  to  him  for  the  stirring 
up  to  benevolent  action  of  countless  millions  who  never  even 
heard  his  name. 

At  the  same  time  it  will  be  found  that  by  his  financial 
plans  he  has  made  The  Army  so  largely  dependent  upon 
public  opinion  that,  were  its  beneficent  work  to  cease,  its 
means  of  survival  would  at  the  same  time  become  extinct, 
so  that  it  could  not  continue  to  exist  when  it  had  ceased  to 
be  a  Salvation  Army. 


Chapter  XXIII 

IN  GERMANY  IN  OLD  AGE 

Though  we  have  had  occasion  to  mention  Germany  re- 
peatedly, there  has  been  no  opportunity  to  call  attention 
to  the  great  importance  which  The  General  attached  to 
our  Work  in  that  country.  It  seemed  almost  as  though 
we  had  been  premature  in  our  attack  upon  the  country, 
so  little  were  either  Governments  or  people  prepared  for 
our  violent  urgency,  when  we  began  in  Stuttgart,  in  1886. 
But  The  General  lived  to  see  his  annual  visits  to  Berlin 
looked  forward  to  by  the  Press  and  public  as  a  natural 
provision  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  those  who  had  prac- 
tically ceased  to  be  of  any  religion. 

In  the  following  description  of  him,  taken  from  German 
papers  during  one  of  his  last  visits  to  that  country,  we 
get  not  only  some  idea  of  his  appearance  to  the  people  when 
he  was  eighty-one  years  of  age,  but  his  sense  of  the  im- 
portance of  that  people  in  the  future  of  The  Army.  And 
it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  German  cities  should  have  been 
subsidising  The  Army's  work  before  any  English  one  did 
so. 

We  have  happily  got  complete  enough  accounts  of  The 
General's  tour  in  Germany,  when  eighty-one,  to  supply  not 
merely  a  most  artistic  representation  of  his  own  appearance 
and  action  at  that  age,  but  at  the  same  time  to  give  an  almost 
perfect  view  of  the  impressions  and  teachings  his  Army 
has  been  giving  out  there  for  nearly  thirty  years. 

In  Diisseldorf,  we  are  told : — 

"The  old  idealist  spoke  for  an  hour  and  a  half  with  the 
fire  of  enthusiasm,  throwing  out  every  now  and  then  some 
spark  of  his  humour  amidst  his  stream  of  eloquence.  He  did 
not  speak  like  a  dying  greybeard,  but  like  a  young  man  ready 

222 


IN  GERMANY  IN  OLD  AGE  223 

to  take  up  to-morrow  morning  the  struggle  with  the  misery 
of  the  whole  world.  Out  of  such  material  as  this  old  man 
are  made  the  great  men  who  do  great  deeds  on  the  battle-field, 
in  the  sphere  of  science,  in  the  province  of  religion,  of  hu- 
manity, and  of  society." 

The  Cologne  Gazette  goes  more  into  detail,  and  says: — 

"  At  his  great  age  the  Founder  and  Leader  of  The  Salva- 
tion Army  hastens  from  continent  to  continent,  from  land  to 
land,  to  awaken  in  Public  Meetings  love  for  your  neighbour. 
After  a  journey  through  Holland  he  came  into  West  Ger- 
many. In  this  week  he  speaks  in  great  cities  from  Dortmund 
to  Carlsruhe,  each  day  in  a  new  place,  and  often  in  several 
Meetings.  Many  thousands  came  together  last  Sunday  from 
Essen  and  neighbourhood,  so  that  the  great  hall  of  the  Sol- 
diers' Home  itself  was  not  large  enough  to  hold  them  at  the 
various  Meetings.  Here  yesterday  evening  2,000  people 
wanted  to  give  him  a  warm  welcome  in  the  Emperor's  Hall. 

"  The  eighty-one-year-old  philanthropist,  who  strides  so  un- 
bendingly along,  is  full  of  youthful  enthusiasm.  His  tall  fig- 
ure, with  its  gleaming  eyes,  long  curved  nose,  and  flowing 
beard,  help  him  to  present  himself  to  the  audience,  with  lively 
gestures  illuminating  his  thoughts,  as  at  once  accuser  of  our 
times  and  gentle  judge.  He  is  especially  a  gentle  judge  of 
fallen  women  and  girls,  55,000  of  whom,  from  ten  years  of 
age  upwards,  he  tells  us,  The  Army  has  rescued. 

"  *  The  fallen  young  men  are  forgiven  by  their  fathers  and 
mothers,'  says  he.  *  Why  should  not  we  also  forgive  the 
fallen  girls?  If  nobody  else  will  do  so,  we  will.'  This  sen- 
timent called  forth  general  applause. 

"*And  then,'  The  General  went  on,  'The  religion  of  The 
Army  has  three  main  principles:  (i)  You  must  get  right  with 
your  God.  You  must  be  reconciled  with  Him,  and  feel  the 
kiss  of  His  forgiving  love.  (2)  You  must  live  righteously  in 
your  own  private  life,  in  your  family,  and  in  holiness  of  heart. 
(3)  You  must  give  yourself  up  to  the  service  of  your  fellow- 
men — must  not  wait  to  be  called  upon,  but  must  have  a  fire 
in  yourself — the  fire  of  love.' 

"  It  took  mightily  hold  of  the  audience  as,  following  upon 
this  definition  of  the  religion  of  The  Army,  he  told  them  that 
he  felt  himself  now  nearing  the  cold  stream  of  death,  but 
fully  believed  that  this  religion,  which  had  carried  him  through 


S24  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

so  much  of  care  and  disappointment  up  to  this  day,  would 
also  carry  him  through  the  dark  valley  into  Paradise,  where 
he,  who  for  so  long  had  known  no  holiday,  would  at  last 
find  rest." 

Everywhere  in  Germany  it  is  this  revelation  of  a  religion, 
founded  on  unshakable  faith,  which  impresses  even  the 
sceptical  journalist.  Here  and  there  the  tendency  to  doubt 
shows  itself  a  little  between  the  lines,  and  it  is  suggested 
that  the  audience  were  only  for  the  time  being  under  the 
spell  of  this  remarkable  speaker.  But  most  impressive  is 
always  the  description  of  The  General's  calls  to  repentance 
and  faith. 

In  Berlin  for  a  number  of  years  the  General  held  Meet- 
ings in  the  great  Circus  Busch  on  the  National  Buss-tag, 
Repentance  Day ;  and,  as  the  way  in  which  his  name  is  pro- 
nounced by  most  Germans  comes  very  near  one  of  the  two 
words,  it  has  almost  become  a  Booth  Day  in  the  thoughts 
of  many. 

"It  was  evident,"  says  one  paper,  "again  in  the  two  Meet- 
ings held  yesterday  that  the  personality  of  the  Founder  and 
Leader  of  The  Army  still  exercises  its  charm.  Both  Meetings 
were  crowded;  the  Circus  was  filled  from  arena  up  to  gallery 
with  a  pressing  multitude.  At  the  close  of  the  evening  address 
there  was  the  call  to  the  Penitent-Form,  and  158  men  and 
women,  out  of  the  most  differing  circles  of  society,  obeyed 
the  call.  Mr.  Booth  spoke  in  both  Meetings  with  the  freshest 
energy  and  youthful  fire,  and  to-day  he  travels  to  Denmark." 

The  Frankfort  Gazette,  and  other  papers,  having  the 
opportunity  for  the  first  time  to  report  The  General's  Meet- 
nigs  on  a  whole  Sunday,  a  little  later,  gave  a  much  com- 
pleter description  of  his  preaching : — 

"The  Founder  of  The  Army,"  says  the  Gazette,  "bears 
his  eighty-one  years  lightly.  He  is  still  equal  to  all  the  toils 
of  the  agitation,  and  spoke  for  over  five  hours  in  three  Meet- 
ings in  the  great  hall  of  the  Merchants'  Union.  The  old 
gentleman  keeps  up  his  good  humour,  and  perfectly  under- 
stands how  to  intersperse  interesting  anecdotes  in  his  ad- 
dresses." 


IN  GERMANY  IN  OLD  AGE  225 

"Last  Sunday,"  says  another  paper,  "was  a  Booth  Day, 
and  certainly  a  Repentance  Day.  The  General  came  to  win 
Soldiers  for  his  Army,  and  ammunition  for  it,  too;  but  there 
was  plenty  of  opportunity  for  repentance  given.  Everybody 
knows  now  the  why  and  wherefore  of  The  Army's  Meetings. 
There  is  music — then  prayer  with  closed  eyes,  and  then  a 
little  sister  sings  a  religious  song  to  a  worldly  tune.  That 
was  so  yesterday ;  but  then  The  General  came  as  chief  speaker. 
He  had  no  need  of  any  other  influence;  his  mere  appearance 
works  upon  every  one. 

"The  public  was  composed  of  all  sorts  of  people.  Poli- 
ticians, Socialists,  as  well  as  clergymen  and  leaders  in  Church 
work  were  there,  together  with  officials  and  working-men  and 
women." 

Nothing  could  be  more  impressive  as  to  the  ever-widen- 
ing circles  who  crowded  to  listen  to  The  General  than  the 
following  description  of  his  Meeting  in  Potsdam,  the  Ger- 
man Windsor,  where  the  Emperor  generally  resides.  Says 
the  local  paper : — 

"  One  could  not  cease  to  marvel  at  the  crowded  state  of  the 
auditorium.  The  intelligent  public,  which  generally  keeps 
away  from  popular  demonstrations,  was  there  in  force.  Jur- 
ists, state  officials,  officers  in  uniform,  doctors,  and  many  ladies 
were  amongst  the  hearers  of  The  General." 

But  some  of  the  papers  in  smaller  but  not  less  striking 
reports  gave  us  a  far  fuller  description  of  what  The  Gen- 
eral's appeals  brought  home  to  the  hearts  of  his  hearers 
everywhere. 

"No  laboured  rhetoric,"  said  a  Leipzig  paper,  "distin- 
guished the  speech,  and  applause  was  not  won  by  catchy 
phrases.  The  speaker  talks  like  a  plain  man  to  plain  people. 
Everybody  listens  enthralled  as  he  tells  of  his  life's  work,  of 
the  unbounded  love  with  which  he  would  like  to  surround  and 
lead  to  Salvation  every  one  who  lives  and  moves.  One  gets 
to  understand  how  this  man  could  gather  around  him  such 
masses  of  disciples,  and  why,  right  and  left,  many  a  lady 
deeply  touched  puts  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes  and  many 
a  man  wipes  a  tear  from  his  cheek." 


^26  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

Best  of  all,  however,  comes  ever  and  anon  in  these 
reports  the  testimony  that  The  General  has  not  been  a 
mere  talker,  like  so  many  others  of  his  day,  but  has  raised 
up  a  real  fighting  force  v^ho  have,  by  gradual  painstaking 
labour  and  endurance,  won  for  him  this  unbounded  con- 
fidence in  what  he  says  of  The  Army's  religion. 

"  I  remember,"  writes  one  reporter,  "  how  in  the  nineties, 
in  Berlin,  no  Soldier,  much  less  a  Sister,  could  appear  in  the 
street  without  being  laughed  at  at  every  step,  made  fun  of, 
and  even  abused,  and  I  visited  Meetings  in  which  there  was 
great  disorder.  But  how  the  picture  was  altered  a  few  years 
later!  Quietly  and  patiently  the  Soldiers  let  scorn  and  even 
assaults  pass,  until  the  very  rowdiest  of  the  Berliners  were 
sick  of  it.  And  on  the  other  hand  every  one  soon  said  that 
these  people,  after  all,  were  doing  nothing  but  to  go  right  at 
the  deepest  miseries  of  the  great  cities — that  they  fed  the 
hungry,  visited  the  sick,  and  generally  carried  out  practical 
Christianity." 

"  True,"  writes  another,  "  it  is  naturally  not  every  one  whose 
taste  is  pleased  with  the  ceremonies  of  The  Army;  but  before 
the  world-wide,  unending,  unselfish  work  of  the  Salvationist 
every  one  feels  like  saying,  *  Hats  off ! ' 

"  It  was  not  mere  love  of  sensation  that  led  such  a  stream 
of  men  to  the  Princes  Hall  on  Tuesday  evening.  They  wished 
for  once  to  come  face  to  face  with  the  old  General  whose  work 
they  had  learnt  in  the  course  of  time  to  value.  Men  of  science, 
clergymen  and  officials  and  educated  people  generally,  for  once 
made  The  Army  their  rendezvous." 

And  those  who  had  heard  the  General  before  immedi- 
ately recognised  that  they  had  not  only  to  do  with  the  very 
same  resolute  Leader,  following  the  one  aim  with  undi- 
minished ardour,  but  relying  upon  the  same  old  Gospel  to 
win  the  world  for  Christ. 

"He  speaks,"  says  a  Hamburg  paper,  "mostly  with  his 
hands  behind  his  back,  swaying  gently  to  and  fro.  The  short, 
sharp  English  sentences  are  translated  one  by  one.  It  is  the 
old  recruiting  talk  of  the  chief  captain  in  the  fight  against 
the  sins  of  this  world,  the  pressing  exhortation  to  get  con- 
certed at  once,  to-day,  in  this  very  hour.     It  is  the  old  en- 


IN  GERMANY  IN  OLD  AGE  227 

treaty  to  become  a  child  of  God,  in  spite  of  all  opposition;  the 
old  call  to  purity  of  heart  and  life.  Whoever  has  wandered 
must  come  back  again.  He  who  has  fallen  a  hundred  times 
must  get  up  again  for  the  hundred  and  first  time. 

"This  General  believes  in  the  Salvation  of  the  worst  and 
the  most  deeply  sunken.  He  preaches  the  gospel  of  holding 
on,  of  going  steadily  forwards,  of  freedom  from  the  lusts  of 
the  flesh  and  from  public  opinion.  He  preaches  at  the  same 
time  the  gospel  of  work,  of  unwearied  faithfulness  in  busi- 
ness, and  of  love  to  all  mankind. 

"When  he  has  finished  The  Army  sings  with  musical  ac- 
companiment and  clapping  of  hands  its  glad  and  even  merry- 
sounding  songs,  not  without  a  mixture  of  that  sudden  inrush 
of  enthusiasm  which  springs  from  the  conviction  of  having 
the  only  faith  that  can  make  people  blessed,  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  a  resistance  hard  to  be  overcome.  And  then  be- 
gins that  extraordinary  urgent  exhorting  of  the  sinner  from 
the  stage — the  ten-and-twenty  times  repeated  *Come' — come 
to  the  Penitent-Form,  represented  here  by  a  row  of  twenty 
chairs.  *  In  the  last  Meeting  of  The  General's  in  Copenhagen 
thirty-three  came  out.  How  many  will  it  be  in  Hamburg?' 
cries  the  leading  OfiScer. 

"  The  first  are  soon  kneeling,  sobbing,  praying,  their  hands 
over  their  eyes  at  the  chairs.  Ever  new  songs  are  sung — 
spiritual  songs  set  to  worldly  melodies.  Ever  anew  sounds 
the  ringing  *  Come '  from  the  stage.  Below,  the  men  and 
women- Soldiers  go  from  one  to  another,  speaking  to  the  hesi- 
tating ones,  laying  a  hand  on  the  shoulder  of  the  ready  ones, 
and  leading  them  to  the  front.  What  a  long  time  it  may  be 
since  any  loving  hand  was  laid  on  the  shoulder  of  many  of 
those  Recruits!  Life,  the  rough,  pitiless  life  of  the  great 
city,  has  always  been  pushing  them  along  lower  and  lower 
down  till  it  got  them  underfoot.  Here  they  listen  to  the  sound 
of  a  voice  of  sympathy,  and  feel  the  pressure  of  a  hand  that 
wishes  to  lead  them.  And  there  above  sits  The  General  for 
a  while  in  an  arm-chair,  saying :  *  The  deepest- fallen  may  rise 
again.  He  has  only  to  step  out  into  the  ranks  of  The  Army, 
which  is  marching  upwards  to  the  Land  of  Grace.'  As  we 
left  the  Hall  the  thirty-fourth  had  already  come  out." 

It  must  be  remembered  that  all  these  descriptions  come 
from  part  of  a  single  month's  journeys,  and  that  The 
General  was  dependent  upon  translation  for  nearly  every 


228  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

moment  of  intercourse  either  in  public  or  private  with  the 
people,  and  that  it  will  be  entirely  understood  how  great 
a  power  for  God  in  this  world  a  man  entirely  given  up  may 
be  after  he  has  passed  his  eightieth  year,  and  with  what 
clearness  witness  for  God  can  be  borne  even  in  a  strange 
tongue  when  it  is  plain  and  definite. 

"From  time  immemorial  it  has  been  customary  to  class 
philanthropists  amongst  the  extraordinaries,  the  marvellous 
people — who  do  not  pass  muster  in  the  common  v^orld — ex- 
ceptions. Nobody  thinks  of  measuring  himself  with  them,  for 
the  battle  of  life  belongs  to  the  egotists — each  one  of  whom 
fights  for  himself.  He  who  fights  for  others  is  smilingly  ac- 
knowledged by  the  well-disposed  as  a  stranger  in  the  world. 
The  ordinary  man  of  the  street  pitilessly  calls  him  a  fool,  and 
the  mass  considers  him  unworthy  of  a  second  thought.  He  is 
there,  and  he  is  endured  so  long  as  he  does  not  bother  any  one, 

"  There  are  three  factors  against  which  the  old  General  has 
had  to  fight  all  his  life  long — against  well-meaning  hesitation, 
against  hard-hearted  egoism,  and  against  the  idle  indifference 
born  of  ignorance.  And  these  three  streams  that  have  flowed 
against  him  in  every  part  of  the  world  have  not  been  able  to 
hold  him  back.  To  those  who  think  he  has  only  become  an 
important  man,  and  to  those  who  measure  a  man's  worth  by 
the  outer  honours  he  gains,  he  became  a  man  of  importance 
when  London  made  him  a  citizen  and  Oxford  an  honorary 
Doctor.  And  now  men  are  better  inclined  to  excuse  in  his 
case  the  curious  title  of  General  of  a  curious  Army. 

"  I  have  often  heard  the  grey-headed  General  in  Public 
Meetings.  For  the  first  time  on  Saturday  evening  I  got  near 
to  him  in  a  more  private  way.  And  then  it  seemed  to  me  like 
a  picture,  as  when  a  grey  warrior,  a  commander  with  snow- 
white  beard  and  keen  profile,  stands  upright  by  the  mast  of  a 
ship  and  gazes  straight  before  him  towards  a  new  country. 

"  And  General  Booth,  despite  his  eighty-one  years,  is  look- 
ing out  towards  new  land.  He  does  not  live  on  memories  like 
the  generality  of  old  men.  He  does  not  allow  himself  any 
favoured  spot  by  the  fireside.  Full  of  fight  and  always  lead- 
ing, General  Booth  stands  at  the  centre  of  a  gigantic  ap- 
paratus. And  the  old  gentleman  does  not  look  like  allowing 
men  to  take  the  control  out  of  his  hands. 

"  Everything  about  him  displays  energy  and  justifiable  self- 


IN  GERMANY  IN  OLD  AGE  S29 

consciousness.  He  energetically  shook  my  hand.  With  the 
ability  of  the  man  of  the  world  he  drew  the  conversation  to 
that  which  was  nearest  to  his  heart.  And  what  his  eyes  can 
no  longer  exactly  observe  his  ears  doubly  well  hear.  He  ar- 
rived on  Friday  evening  from  Denmark,  holds  three  Meet- 
ings in  Hamburg  on  Sunday,  travels  on  to  Potsdam  on  Mon- 
day, and  occupies  himself  with  thoughts  of  a  journey  of  in- 
spection in  India. 

"  The  comfortable  arm-chair  that  was  offered  him  he  de- 
clined almost  as  if  it  were  an  insult.  *  That  is  meant  for  an  i 
old  man,'  he  said;  and  really  the  remark  was  justified  when 
one  heard  the  plans  of  the  grey  General,  for  he  has  plans  such 
as  one  of  the  youngest  might  have.  He  appears  to  me  like 
an  able  business  man  who  constantly  thinks  how  to  expand  his 
undertaking  and  to  supply  it  with  all  the  novelties  that  a  time 
of  progress  offers.  He  has  altogether  modern  views.  He 
does  not  hold  fast  with  the  reluctance  of  old  age  to  old  things, 
except  to  the  old  faith. 

"  In  the  Meetings  The  General  seemed  to  me  rather  severe ; 
but  that  disappears  when  you  get  at  him  personally,  espe- 
cially when  you  have  got  used  to  his  way  of  speaking.  He 
almost  flings  each  sentence  out.  Every  phrase,  accompanied 
by  some  energetic  gesture,  is  like  a  war  cry.  *  I  will,  and  I 
carry  out  what  I  will,*  seems  to  breathe  in  all  about  him;  and 
who  can  complain  of  this  will,  this  iron  resoluteness  with 
which  he  works  at  the  raising  up  of  men.  He  is  in  his  king- 
dom an  unlimited  ruler,  but  one  with  a  benevolent  look  who 
sees  for  the  benefit  of  the  blind.  He  must  be  all  that  for  his 
extraordinary  work. 

"  The  General  asks  us  to  put  questions.  I  could  not  manage 
it.  It  seemed  to  me  to  be  so  useless  in  the  presence  of  this 
important  man.  So  he  said,  *We  are  never  satisfied  with  the 
progress  we  make  in  view  of  what  still  remains  to  be  done.' 
He  spoke  of  the  progress  made  by  the  Social  Work  of  The 
Army  in  Germany,  and  of  his  plans. 

"  I  never  heard  The  General  speak  without  his  having 
plans,  upon  the  carrying  out  of  which  he  was  at  work  with 
all  his  might.  He  puts  his  whole  body  and  soul  into  what- 
ever he  is  engaged  in. 

"*The  Salvation  Army  is  the  most  interesting  thing  under 
the  sun,'  said  The  General  at  the  close  of  this  earnest  talk, 
and  then  added,  jokingly,  *  next  to  the  Hamburg  Press.' 

"  On  the  Sunday  I  saw  him  again  as  he  spoke  to  a  Meeting 


^30  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

of  thousands,  a  curiously  mixed  public,  where  there  were  many 
of  the  foremost  gentlemen  and  ladies  of  society  and  many 
very  common  people.  All,  however,  were  equally  enthused. 
I  will  only  mention  a  couple  of  sentences  out  of  the  speech: 
*  The  Army  wants  to  come  into  competition  with  nobody,  only 
to  be  a  friendly  helper — nobody's  enemy,  but  the  friend  of 
everybody.  It  will  gladly  be  an  inspiration  and  example.  It 
has  become  the  almsgiver  for  many  Governments,  it  is  not 
British  because  it  was  born  in  Britain,  just  as  little  as  Chris- 
tianity is  Jewish  because  it  came  into  the  world  in  Judea.'  " 
— Else  Meerstedt. 

Now  that  we  see  it  all  but  completed,  we  think  this  book 
singularly  wanting  in  reference  to  The  General's  frequent 
merriness  of  mood.  We  have  thought  it  needless  to  insert 
any  of  the  amusing  anecdotes  that  could  have  been  so 
abundantly  culled  from  any  of  his  visits  to  any  country 
had  we  not  been  so  anxious  to  select  from  the  small  space 
at  our  disposal  what  was  most  important. 

Nor  have  we  wished  to  present  the  reader  with  the  por- 
trait of  an  infallible  genius,  or  a  saint  who  never  said  or  did 
anything  that  he  afterwards  regretted.  A  victim  almost 
all  his  life  to  extreme  indigestion,  it  is  indeed  to  all  who 
knew  him  best  marvellous  that  he  could  endure  so  much 
of  misery  without  more  frequently  expressing  in  terms  of 
unpleasant  frankness  his  irritation  at  the  faults  and  mis- 
takes of  others.  But  really  after  his  death  as  during  his 
life  we  have  been  far  too  busy  in  trying  to  help  in  accom- 
plishing his  great  lifework  to  note  these  details  of  human 
frailty. 


Chapter  XXIV 

THE  END 

It  seems  almost  impossible  to  describe  the  ending  of  The 
General's  life,  because  there  was  not  even  the  semblance 
of  an  end  within  a  week  of  his  death. 

The  last  time  I  talked  with  him,  just  as  I  was  leaving  for 
Canada  in  January,  he  for  the  first  time  made  a  remark  that 
indicated  a  doubt  of  his  continuance  in  office.  He  hardly 
hinted  at  death ;  but,  referring  to  the  sensations  of  exhaus- 
tion he  had  felt  a  few  days  previously,  he  said :  "  I  some- 
times fancy,  you  know,  that  I  may  be  getting  to  a  halt,  and 
then  " — with  his  usual  pause  when  he  was  going  to  tease 
— "  we  shall  have  a  chance  to  see  what  some  of  you  can 
do!" 

We  laughed  together,  and  I  went  off  expecting  to  hear 
of  his  fully  recovering  his  activity  "  after  the  operation," 
to  which  we  were  always  looking  forward.  Oh,  that  op- 
eration !  It  was  to  be  the  simplest  thing  in  the  world,  when 
the  eye  was  just  ready  for  it,  as  simple  and  as  complete 
a  deliverance  from  blindness  as  the  other  one  had  seemed, 
for  a  few  days,  to  be.  But  this  time  he  would  be  fully 
warned,  and  most  cautious  after  it,  and  I  really  fancied  the 
joy  he  would  have  after  so  long  an  eclipse. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  he  never  realised  how  great  his 
own  blindness  already  was,  so  strong  was  his  resolution 
to  make  the  best  of  it,  and  so  eager  his  perception,  really 
by  other  means,  of  everything  he  could  in  any  way  notice. 
We  had  difficulty  in  remem.bering  that  he  really  could  not 
see  when  he  turned  so  rapidly  towards  anybody  approach- 
ing him  or  whose  voice  he  recognised ! 

To  Colonel  Kitching  during  this  dark  period  he  wrote 
one  day :  "  Anybody  can  believe  in  the  sunshine.  We, 
that  is  you  and  I  and  a  few  more  of  whom  we  know,  ought 

231 


232  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

to  be  desperate  believers  by  this  time — Saviours  of  men — 
against  their  will,  nay,  compellers  of  the  Almighty/* 

And  his  v^riting  was  always  so  marvellous,  both  for 
quantity  and  quality.  His  very  last  letters  to  several  of 
us  consisted  of  a  number  of  pages  all  written  with  perfect 
clearness  and  regularity  with  his  own  hand.  It  was,  per- 
haps, the  greatest  triumph  of  his  own  unfailing  faith  and 
sunny  optimism  that  he  kept  even  those  who  were  nearest 
to  him  full  of  hope  as  to  his  complete  recovery  of  strength 
till  within  a  few  days  of  his  death ;  and  then,  gliding  down 
into  the  valley,  surprised  all  by  sinking  suddenly  into  eternal 
peace  without  any  distinct  warning  that  the  end  was  so  near. 
iHis  youngest  daughter,  Mrs.  Commissioner  Booth-Hell- 
berg,  was  with  him  during  the  last  days. 

But,  really,  it  would  be  only  fair  to  describe  his  end 
as  having  begun  from  the  day  when,  during  his  Sixth 
Motor  Tour,  the  eye  which  had  been  operated  upon  be- 
came blind.  Though  after  having  it  taken  out,  he  very 
largely  rallied,  and  passed  through  grand  Campaigns  for 
some  years,  he  was  ever  looking  forward  to  the  operation 
on  the  other  eye,  which  was  to  restore  him  to  partial 
sight.  His  cheeriness  through  those  years  and  his  mar- 
vellous energy  astonished  all. 

The  following  notes  of  his  first  foreign  journey  after 
the  loss  of  sight  cannot  but  be  of  special  interest,  showing 
with  what  zest  and  enjoyment  he  threw  himself  into  all  his 
undertakings  for  Christ : — 

"  Saturday,  February  12,  19 10. — The  crossing  has  been 
quite  rough  enough.  I  slept  very  Httle,  and  it  was  with  real 
difficulty  that  I  shambled  through  the  long  railway  depot  to 
my  train  for  Rotterdam.  At  eight  o'clock  was  woke  up  from 
a  sound  sleep  with  a  startling  feeling.  It  is  a  pity  I  could  not 
have  slept  on.  Fixed  up  at  the  old  hotel  six  floors  up  (the 
Mass  Hotel).  Very  fair  accommodation,  but  a  little  difficult 
to  get  anything  to  eat,  that  is,  such  as  meet  my  queer  tastes 
and  habits.  Nevertheless,  on  the  principle  of  *  any  port  in  a 
storm,'  I  have  had  much  worse  accommodation. 

"  Sunday,  February  13,  19 10. — Had  a  wonderful  day.  Far 
ahead  of  anything  experienced  before  in  this  place.     My  opin- 


THE  END  ^33 

ion  about  it  is  jotted  down  in  The  War  Cry.  I  had,  as  I 
thought,  remarkable  power  on  each  of  the  three  occasions, 
and  finished  off  at  ten  o'clock  far  less  exhausted  than  I  fre- 
quently am.  Still,  I  scarcely  got  into  my  rooms  before  the 
giddiness  came  on  in  my  head  very  badly,  and  continued  off 
and  on  until  ten  the  next  morning.  I  can't  account  for  it. 
It  may  be  my  stomach,  or  it  may  have  something  to  do  with 
the  rocking  of  the  steamer  on  Friday  night.  It  may  be  what 
the  doctors  fear,  my  overtaxed  brain,  or  it  may  be  something 
else.  Whatever  it  is,  it  is  very  awkward  while  it  lasts. 
Fifty-seven  souls  for  the  day. 

"Monday,  February  14,  1910. — Left  by  the  12:37  p.m.  train 
for  Groningen.  Slept  a  good  bit  of  the  way.  Arrived  about 
5:12  p.m.  Reception  very  remarkable,  considering  the  popu- 
lation is  only  some  78,000.  It  was  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able greetings  I  have  ever  had  in  any  part  of  the  world. 
There  must  have  been  getting  on  for  a  couple  of  thousand 
people  in  the  station  itself,  who  had  each  paid  five  cents  for 
a  platform  ticket,  and  outside  5,000  is  a  low  estimate.  Every- 
body very  friendly. 

"  Entertained  by  the  Governor's  wife's  sister.  The  Meet- 
ing was  as  wonderful  as  the  reception.  Immense  hall.  Could 
not  be  less  than  1,500  people  packed  into  it  on  one  floor.  I 
talked  for  an  hour  and  three-quarters.  Colonel  Palstra,  my 
translator,  did  splendidly,  the  people  listening  spellbound;  not 
a  soul  moved  until  the  last  minute,  when  three  or  four  went 
out  for  some  reason  or  other.  It  was  a  wonderful  time. 
Settled  to  sleep  about  11 130  p.m.  not  feeling  any  worse. 

"Tuesday,  February  15,  1910. — Had  a  fair  night's  sleep. 
The  strange  feelings  in  the  head  continue  off  and  on,  and  the 
fact  that  they  don't  pass  off,  in  connexion  with  the  entreaties 
of  the  Chief,  and  those  about  me,  made  me  consent  to  give  up 
the  Officers'  Council  I  was  proposing  to  hold  at  Amsterdam 
next  week,  putting  on  Lectures  on  the  evenings  of  the  two 
days  which  I  would  otherwise  have  used  for  Councils.  I  am 
very  loath  to  do  this,  from  feeling  that  the  Officers  are  the 
great  need.  So  far  I  have  been  delighted  with  what  I  have 
seen  of  the  Officers  in  the  country.  We  ought  to  capture 
Holland. 

"  The  Governor  has  sent  word  to  say  that  he  is  coming  to 
see  me  this  afternoon. 

"  I  have  had  a  long  sleep,  and  I  hope  I  shall  be  better  for 
it.    The   Governor   has   just   come   in.    He   appears    a   very 


^34  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

amiable  person,  very  friendly  disposed  towards  The  Army. 
We  had  a  very  nice  conversation  about  matters  in  general, 
and  at  parting  he  expressed  his  kindest  wishes  for  my  future 
and  for  the  future  of  The  Army. 

"  I  left  at  a  few  minutes  before  seven.  It  has  been  snow- 
ing and  raining,  and  freezing  and  thawing  the  last  few  hours, 
consequently  the  atmosphere  is  not  very  agreeable.  However, 
my  carriage  was  well  warmed,  and  we  arrived  at  Assen  in 
half  an  hour. 

"A  very  nice  hall — packed  with  a  very  respectful  audience. 
I  spoke  on  the  old  subject,  *  The  Lesson  of  my  Life,'  and  made 
it  '  better  as  new '  as  the  Jew  says  about  his  second-hand  gar- 
ments. I  was  very  pleased  with  it  and  the  people  were  too. 
I  am  entertained  by  Baron  and  Baroness  Van  der  Velts.  The 
lady  speaks  English  very  nicely,  and  they  are  evidently  very 
pleased  to  have  me  with  them. 

"  I  was  glad  to  settle  to  sleep  about  eleven,  and  thankful 
for  the  mercies  of  the  day." 

It  was  thus  that  nearly  three  years  passed  away.  Then 
came  at  last  the  time  when  the  long-hoped-for  operation 
was  to  take  place. 

Rookstone,  the  house  in  Hadley  Wood,  a  village  on  the 
northern  outskirts  of  London,  where  The  General  died, 
stands  almost  at  the  foot  of  the  garden  of  the  present 
General,  so  that  they  could  be  constantly  in  touch  when  at 
home,  and  the  General's  grandchildren  greatly  enjoyed  his 
love  for  them. 

But  in  the  large  three-windowed  room,  where  his  left 
eye  was  operated  upon,  and  where  a  few  months  later  he 
died,  his  Successor,  his  youngest  daughter,  Commissioner 
Howard,  and  his  Private  Secretary,  Colonel  Kitching,  had 
many  valued  interviews  with  him  during  those  last  months. 
I  had  not  that  opportunity  until  it  was  too  late  to  speak  to 
him,  for  he  had  said  when  it  was  suggested,  full  as  he  had 
been  of  the  hope  of  prolonged  life  almost  to  the  end,  *'  Oh, 
yes,  he'll  want  to  come  and  get  something  for  my  life  and 
that  will  just  finish  me." 

Of  the  operaton  itself  we  prefer  to  let  the  physician  him- 
self speak  in  the  fallowing  extract  from  The  Lancet  of  the 
19th  October,  191 2: 


THE  END  235 

"...  He  was  not  in  very  good  health  in  March,  1910; 
he  had  occasional  giddy  attacks  and  lapses  of  memory,  and 
from  April  till  June  of  the  same  year  he  had  albuminuria, 
from  which,  however,  he  appeared  entirely  to  recover.  The 
vision  of  his  left  eye  became  gradually  worse,  but  I  encour- 
aged him  to  go  on  without  operation  as  long  as  he  could. 
He  did  so  until  about  the  end  of  191 1,  when  his  sight  had  be- 
come so  bad  that  he  could  barely  find  his  way  about;  indeed, 
he  met  with  one  or  two  minor  accidents  on  account  of  not 
being  able  to  see.  It  then  appeared  to  me  he  had  much  to 
gain  and  very  little  to  lose  by  an  operation,  and  further,  he 
was  in  much  better  health  than  he  had  been  for  some  time. 
I  pointed  out  to  him  that  there  was  a  risk  and  that  if  the 
operation  failed  he  would  be  totally  blind,  but  that  there  were 
very  long  odds  in  his  favour,  and  that  I  was  willing  to  take 
the  risk  if  he  was.  He  asked  one  question:  *H  you  were  in 
my  place  would  you  have  it  done?'  I  said  certainly  I  would. 
That  quite  decided  him  and  all  that  remained  to  be  done  was 
to  fix  a  time.  General  Booth  at  that  date  had  some  work 
which  he  wanted  to  finish,  and  eventually  the  date  for  opera- 
tion was  fixed  for  May  23rd.  On  that  day  I  operated.  I  did 
a  simple  extraction  under  cocaine. 

"  Nothing  could  have  been  more  satisfactory,  as  will  be 
seen  from  the  notes,  and  the  bulletin  sent  to  the  papers  was, 
*  The  operation  was  entirely  successful;  the  ultimate  result 
depends  on  The  General's  recuperative  power.'  When  I  cov- 
ered the  eye  and  bandaged  it  I  thought  that  success  was  cer- 
tain, and  was  confirmed  in  that  opinion  on  the  following  morn- 
ing when  I  lifted  up  the  dressing  and  found  all  was  well,  and 
that  the  patient,  when  he  partly  opened  the  eye,  could  see. 
On  the  third  day  Dr.  Milne,  who  was  in  attendance,  at  once 
saw  that  mischief  had  occurred,  and  the  sequence  of  events 
I  have  narrated.  How  the  eye  became  infected  I  am  unable 
to  say.  I  used  every  precaution;  as  I  told  the  patient  after- 
wards, the  only  omission  I  could  think  of  was  that  1  had  not 
boiled  or  roasted  myself.  ...  I  looked  carefully  for  these 
before  each  operation.  I  regret  two  things  in  the  case: 
(i)  that  the  last  operation  was  not  done  two  or  three  months 
before  when  General  Booth  was  in  better  health;  (2)  that  it 
was  not  postponed  for  another  month,  in  which  case  I  should 
not  have  done  it,  for  looking  back  on  the  whole  history  I 
feel  certain  that  he  was  not  in  his  best  condition  on  May 
23rd  when  the  operation  was  performed." 


236  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

The  General's  own  response  when  he  was  gently  in- 
formed that  there  was  no  hope  of  his  seeing  objects  any 
more  was : — 

"Well,  the  Lord's  Will  be  done.  If  it  is  to  be  so  I  have 
but  to  bow  my  head  and  accept  it." 

He  subsequently  remarked  that  as  he  had  served  God 
and  the  people  with  his  eyes  he  must  now  try  to  serve  with- 
out them.  He  continued  to  dictate  letters,  and  even  to 
write  occasionally  as  he  had  been  accustomed  to  do,  with 
the  help  of  his  secretaries,  and  a  frame  that  had  been  pre- 
pared for  the  purpose.  But  the  very  struggles  against  de- 
pression and  to  cheer  others,  together  with  the  sleeplessness 
that  resulted  took  from  his  little  remaining  strength,  and  it 
became  evident  that  he  was  gradually  sinking.  Yet  he  was 
so  remarkably  cheerful  and  at  times  even  confident  that 
all  around  him  were  kept  hoping  up  to  the  very  last. 

To  a  group  of  Commissioners  who  visited  him  he  said : — 

"  I  am  hoping  speedily  to  be  able  to  talk  to  Officers  and 
help  them  all  over  the  world.  I  am  still  hoping  to  go  to 
America  and  Canada  as  I  had  bargained  for.  I  am  hoping 
for  several  things  whether  they  come  to  pass  or  not." 

But  on  Tuesday,  the  20th  August,  it  became  evident 
that  the  end  was  very  near.  There  gathered  around  his 
bed  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bramwell  Booth,  Mrs.  Commissioner 
Booth-Hellberg,  Commissioner  Howard,  who  had  been 
summoned  by  telegram  from  his  furlough.  Colonel  Kitch- 
ing,  Brigadier  Cox,  Adjutant  Catherine  Booth,  Sergeant 
Bernard  Booth,  Captain  Taylor,  his  last  Assistant  Secre- 
tary, Nurse  Ada  Timson  of  the  London  Hospital,  and 
Captain  Amelia  Hill,  his  housekeeper. 

The  heart  showed  no  sign  of  failure  until  within  half  an 
hour  of  his  death,  and  the  feet  remained  warm  till  within 
twenty  minutes  of  the  event.  But  the  heart  and  pulse  be- 
came gradually  weaker,  the  breathing  faster  and  shorter 
and  more  irregular,  and  at  thirteen  minutes  past  ten  o'clock 
at  night  it  entirely  ceased. 


THE  END  237 

London  awoke  to  find  in  our  Headquarters  window  the 
notice,  ''  General  Booth  has  laid  down  his  Sword.  God 
is  with  us." 

The  day  after  his  death,  at  a  meeting  of  all  the  Commis- 
sioners present  in  London,  the  envelope  containing  the  Gen- 
eral's appointment  of  his  successor  was  produced  by  the 
Army's  Solicitors,  endorsed  in  the  General's  own  writing 
and  still  sealed.  Upon  being  opened,  it  was  found  to  be 
dated  the  21st  August,  1890,  and  that  it  appointed  the  Chief 
of  the  Staff,  William  Bramwell  Booth,  to  succeed  him. 
The  new  General,  in  accepting  the  appointment,  and  prom- 
ising by  God's  help  to  fulfil  its  duties,  expressed  his  great 
pleasure  in  discovering  that  it  was  dated  during  the  life- 
time of  his  mother,  so  that  he  could  feel  sure  that  her 
prayers  had  been  joined  with  his  father's  for  him  at  the 
time. 

Immediately  there  began  to  pour  in  upon  us  from  every 
part  of  the  world  expressions  of  admiration  and  sympathy 
which  were  most  valuable  in  their  promise  for  the  Army's 
increased  opportunity  and  usefulness  in  the  future. 

His  Majesty,  the  King,  who  had  manifested  deep  sym- 
pathy with  The  General  in  his  illness,  sent  the  following 
generous  message,  which  was  one  of  the  first  to  come  to 
hand : — 

"Abbeystead  Hall. 
"  I  am  grieved  to  hear  the  sad  news  of  the  death  of  your 

Father.     The  nation  has  lost  a  great  organiser,  and  the  poor 

a  whole-hearted  and  sincere  friend,  who  devoted  his  life  to 

helping  them  in  a  practical  way. 

"  Only  in  the  future  shall  we  realise  the  good  wrought  by 

him  for  his  fellow-creatures. 

"  To-day  there  is  universal  mourning  for  him.    I  join  in  it, 

and  assure  you  and  your  family  of  my  true  sympathy  in  the 

heavy  loss  which  has  befallen  you. 

"  George  R.  I." 

Queen  Alexandra  telegraphed : — 

"  I  beg  you  and  your  family  to  accept  my  deepest  and  most 
heartfelt  sympathy  in  the  irreparable  loss  you  and  the  nation 


S38  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

have  sustained  in  the  death  of  your  great,  good,  and  never- 
to-be-forgotten  Father,  a  loss  w^hich  will  be  felt  throughout  the 
whole  civilised  world.  But,  thank  God,  his  work  will  live 
for  ever. 

"  Alexandra." 

President  Taft  wired : — 

"  Washington. 
"  To  General  Bramwell  Booth  : 

"In  the  death  of  your  good  Father  the  world  loses  one  of 
the  most  effective  practical  philanthropists.  His  long  life  and 
great  talents  were  dedicated  to  the  noble  work  of  helping  the 
poor  and  weak,  and  to  giving  them  another  chance  to  attain 
success  and  happiness. 

"  Accept  my  deep  sympathy. 

"Wm.  H.  Taft." 
The  King  of  Denmark  wired : — 

"  Express  my  sincere  sympathy. 

"Christian   R." 
The  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  Sir  Thomas  B.  Crosby, 
wired: — 

"The  City  of  London  sincerely  mourns  the  passing  away 
of  its  distinguished  citizen,  General  Booth,  whose  grand  and 
good  work  entitles  him  to  imperishable  gratitude." 

Whilst  the  Governors  and  Premiers  of  most  of  the  Col- 
onies where  the  Army  is  at  work  cabled  in  similar  terms. 
The  Emperor  of  Germany,  as  well  as  the  King  and  Queen, 
and  Queen  Alexandra,  sent  wreaths  to  be  placed  on  The 
General's  coffin,  and  the  tributes  of  the  press  all  over  the 
world  will  be  found  in  the  following  chapter. 

More  than  65,000  persons  came  to  Clapton  Congress  Hall 
to  look  upon  his  face  as  he  lay  in  his  coffin,  and  more  than 
35,000  gathered  for  the  great  Memorial  Service  in  the 
Olympia,  the  largest  obtainable  building  in  London,  on  the 
evening  before  the  funeral.  All  the  press  commented  upon 
the  remarkable  joyfulness  of  our  funeral  services,  and  the 
funeral  itself  the  next  day  was  admitted  to  have  been  the 
most  impressive  sight  the  great  city  has  seen  in  modern 
times. 


THE  END  ^39 

In  addition  to  officers,  many  bands  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  came  to  join  in  it. 

The  coffin  had  been  brought  in  the  night  to  Headquarters 
in  Queen  Victoria  Street.  The  funeral  procession  was 
formed  on  the  Embankment,  and  whilst  it  marched  through 
the  city  all  traffic  was  suspended  from  ii  till  i  o'clock. 
The  millions  who  witnessed  its  passage  along  the  five-mile 
march  to  Abney  Park  Cemetery  seemed  as  generally  im- 
pressed and  sympathetic  as  the  multitude  gathered  there. 
It  was  indeed  touching  to  see  not  only  policemen  and  am- 
bulance workers;  but  publicans  and  numbers  of  the  people 
offering  glasses  of  water  to  the  sisters  who  had  been  on 
their  feet  for  six  or  seven  hours  before  the  service  was 
ended. 

The  memorial  services  held  all  over  the  world  on  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday  were  attended  by  quite  unparalleled  crowds, 
of  whom  very  many  publicly  surrendered  their  lives  to 
God. 

The  following  letters  to  members  of  his  own  family 
show  the  spirit  of  affection  and  of  cheerfulness  which  to 
the  very  last  distinguished  him. 

To  his  youngest  daughter,  the  widow  of  Commissioner 
Booth-Hellberg,  who,  though  she  had  been  fighting  in  one 
post  or  another  in  this  country,  India,  America,  Sweden, 
Switzerland,  or  France  for  over  twenty  years,  he  still  re- 
garded as  his  "  baby  "  and  special  darling,  he  wrote : — 

"Hadley  Wood, 
"May  3,  19 12. 
"My  very  dear  Lucy, — 

"Your  letter  is  to  hand.  I  am  interested  in  all  you  say. 
It  was  very  kind,  indeed  beautiful,  of  you  to  sit  by  the  couch 
of  dear  Erickson  all  those  hours.  But  it  will  be  a  recollection 
of  pleasure  all  through  your  Hfe,  and  I  have  no  doubt,  after 
the  fading  hours  of  this  life  have  passed  out  of  sight  and 
thought,  it  will  give  you  satisfaction  in  the  life  to  come. 

"  There  is  a  great  deal  in  your  suggestion  that  we  should  do 
more  in  the  hospitals.  It  would  be,  as  you  say,  beyond  ques- 
tion a  means  of  blessing  and  comfort — indeed,  of  Salvation 
to  many  of  the  lovely,  suffering,  dying  people  whose  melan- 


24i0  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

choly  lot  carries  them  there.  But  the  old  difficulty  bars  the 
way — the  want  of  Officers  and  money  for  the  task.  Well,  we 
are  doing  something  in  this  direction,  and  we  must  wait  for 
the  power  to  do  more. 

"I  think  much  about  many  of  the  things  you  say.  Your 
practical  common  sense  comes  out  at  every  turn.  Based,  as 
your  comments  and  suggestions  usually  are,  on  the  religion  of 
love,  makes  them  very  precious. 

"  Go  on,  my  dear  girl.  God,  I  feel,  is  preparing  you  for 
something  very  useful  in  His  Kingdom.     I  feel  quite  sure. 

"  But,  oh,  do  be  careful  and  not  overrun  your  strength. 

"  Through  mercy  I  am  keeping  better.  I  had  a  very  trying 
day  yesterday  on  the  top  of  my  table  work,  which  I  find  a 
continuous  trial  to  my  nerves,  but  I  came  through  it — that  is, 
through  yesterday's  hard  pull.  It  was  a  visit  to  my  native 
town.     But  you  will  read  about  it  in  the  Cry. 

"  I  am  eating  much  more,  not  only  in  quantity,  but  am  in- 
dulging in  a  little  more  variety. 

"  My  difficulty  at  the  moment  is,  that  while  a  good  supper 
helps  me  to  sleep,  a  scanty  supper  is  agreeable  to  my  brains, 
and  my  feelings  hinder  me  from  sleeping,  as  I  am  so  lively 
after  it. 
"Later, 

"  I  have  just  had  a  nice  little  sleep.  Quite  refreshing  it 
has  been,  and  very  welcome  also. 

"  I  am  now  in  for  a  cup  of  tea.  What  a  pleasure  it  would 
be  if  you  were  here  to  pour  it  out  and  chatter  to  me  while  I 
drink  it. 

"Well,  I  had  anticipated  this  delight  on  my  visit  to  Nor- 
way and  Sweden  in  this  coming  July,  but  that,  I  am  afraid, 
will  not  come — that  is,  my  visit  to  Denmark;  but  I  shall  hold 
on  to  it  (d.v.)  in  connexion  with  my  Annual  Campaign  in 
Berlin  and  round  about.  Then  I  shall  expect  quite  a  long 
stay  in  your  Territory,  similar  to  my  last;  or  better,  I  hope. 

"I  am  positively  working  night  and  day  now,  and  only 
hope  I  shall  not  break  down;  but  I  am  careful,  after  all,  and 
seem  to  be  really  substantially  improved. 

"  I  cannot  finish  this  letter  now,  and,  although  it  is  not 
worth  posting,  I  think  it  will  be  best  to  send  it  off.  I  may 
put  in  a  P.S.  if  there  is  opportunity. 

"Anyway,  believe  me,  as  ever  and  for  ever, 

"Your   affectionate   father, 
"W.  B/' 


THE  END  241! 

At  his  last  public  Meeting  to  celebrate  his  83d  birthday, 
at  the  Royal  Albert  Hall,  on  the  9th  day  of  May,  the  Gen- 
eral had  said : — 

"And  now  comrades  and  friends  I  must  say  good-bye.  I 
am  going  into  dry  dock  for  repairs,  but  The  Army  will  not 
be  allowed  to  suffer,  either  financially  or  spiritually,  or  in 
any  other  way  by  my  absence,  and  in  the  long  future  I  think 
it  will  be  seen — I  shall  not  be  here  to  see,  but  you  will,  that 
The  Army  will  answer  every  doubt  and  banish  every  fear 
and  strangle  every  slander,  and  by  its  marvellous  success 
show  to  the  world  that  it  is  the  work  of  God  and  that  The 
General  has  been  His  Servant." 

In  his  last  letter  to  the  Chief,  he  wrote  two  months 
later : — 

"International  Headquarters,  London,  E.G. 

"July  4,   1912. 
"  My  dear  Chief, — 

"  I  am  pleased  to  hear  that  you  are  sticking  to  your  inten- 
tion of  going  away  for  a  few  days,  in  spite  of  my  continued 
affliction,  for  affliction  it  can  truthfully  be  called. 

"  I  am  very  poorly,  and  the  trial  of  it  is  that  I  cannot  see 
any  positive  prospect  of  a  definite,  speedy  recovery.  But  it 
will  come;  I  have  never  seriously  doubted  it.  God  won't  let 
me  finish  off  in  this  disheartening  manner — disheartening,  I 
mean,  to  my  comrades,  and  to  those  I  have  to  leave  with  the 
responsibility  of  keeping  the  Banner  flying.  God  will  still  do 
wonders,  in  spite  of  men  and  devils. 

"All  will  be  well.  Miriam  will  get  well,  Mary  will  get 
well,  and  both  be  brave  warriors.  Florrie  will  flourish  more 
than  ever,  and  you  will  be  stronger;  and,  although  it  may 
require  more  patience  and  skill,  I  shall  rally! 

"  I  am  in  real  pain  and  difficulty  while  I  dictate  this.  These 
horrid  spasms  seem  to  sit  on  me  like  a  mountain,  but  I  felt 
I  could  not  let  you  go  without  a  longer  good-bye  and  a  more 
affectionate  kiss  than  what  is  so  ordinarily.  This  is  a  poor 
thing,  but  it  speaks  of  the  feeling  of  my  heart,  and  the  most 
fervent  prayer  of  my  soul.    Love  to  all, 

"Yours,  as  ever, 

"W.  B. 
"The  Chief  of  the  Staff." 


£4S  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

To  his  second  daughter,  in  command  of  The  Army  in 
the  United  States,  his  last  letter  read  as  follows : — 

"July  20,   19 1 2. 
"  My  dear^  dear  Eva^ — 

"I  had  your  letter.  Bless  you  a  thousand  times!  You 
are  a  lovely  correspondent.  You  don't  write  your  letters  with 
your  pen,  or  with  your  tongue,  you  write  them  with  your  heart. 
Hearts  are  different;  some,  I  suppose,  are  born  sound  and 
musical,  others  are  born  uncertain  and  unmusical,  and  are  at 
best  a  mere  tinkhng  cymbal.  Yours,  I  have  no  doubt,  has 
blessed  and  cheered  and  delighted  the  soul  of  the  mother  who 
bore  you  from  the  very  first  opening  of  your  eyes  upon  the 
world,  and  that  dear  heart  has  gone  on  with  that  cheering 
influence  from  that  time  to  the  present,  and  it  will  go  on  cheer- 
ing everybody  around  you  who  have  loved  you,  and  it  will 
go  on  cheering  among  the  rest  your  loving  brother  Bramwell 
and  your  devoted  General  right  away  to  the  end;  nay,  will  go 
on  endlessly,  for  there  is  to  be  no  conclusion  to  our  affection. 

"  I  want  it  to  be  so.  I  want  it  to  be  my  own  experience. 
Love,  to  be  a  blessing,  must  be  ambitious,  boundless,  and  eter- 
nal. O  Lord,  help  me!  and  O  Lord,  destroy  everything  in  me 
that  interferes  with  the  prosperity,  growth,  and  fruitfulness  of 
this  precious,  Divine,  and  everlasting  fruit! 

"  I  have  been  ill — I  have  been  very  ill  indeed.  I  have  had 
a  return  of  my  indigestion  in  its  most  terrible  form.  This 
spasmodic  feeling  of  suffocation  has  so  distressed  me  that  at 
times  it  has  seemed  almost  impossible  for  me  to  exist.  Still, 
I  have  fought  my  way  through,  and  the  doctors  this  afternoon 
have  told  me,  as  bluntly  and  plainly  as  an  opinion  could  be 
given  to  a  man,  that  I  must  struggle  on  and  not  give  way,  or 
the  consequences  will  be  very  serious. 

"  Then,  too,  the  eye  has  caused  me  much  pain,  but  that 
has  very  much,  if  not  entirely,  passed  off,  and  the  oculist  tells 
me  that  the  eye  will  heal  up.  But,  alas !  alas !  I  am  absolutely 
blind.  It  is  very  painful,  but  I  am  not  the  only  blind  man  in 
the  world,  and  I  can  easily  see  how,  if  I  am  spared,  I  shall  be 
able  to  do  a  good  deal  of  valuable  work. 

"  So  I  am  going  to  make  another  attempt  at  work.  What 
do  you  think  of  that?  I  have  sat  down  this  afternoon,  not 
exactly  to  the  desk,  but  any  way  to  the  duties  of  the  desk, 
and  I  am  going  to  strive  to  stick  to  them  if  I  possibly  can. 


THE  END  24.a 

I  have  been  down  to  some  of  my  meals;  I  have  had  a  walk 
in  the  garden,  and  now  it  is  proposed  for  me  to  take  a  drive 
in  a  motor,  I  believe  some  kind  soul  is  loaning  me.  Anyhow^ 
I  am  going  to  have  some  machine  that  will  shuffle  me  along 
the  street,  road,  and  square,  and  I  will  see  how  that  acts  on 
my  nerves,  and  then  perhaps  try  something  more. 

"  However,  I  am  going  into  action  once  more  in  the  Sal- 
vation War,  and  I  believe,  feeble  as  I  am,  God  is  going  to 
give  me  another  good  turn,  and  another  blessed  wave  of  suc- 
cess. 

"You  will  pray  for  me.  I  would  like  before  I  die — it  has 
been  one  of  the  choicest  wishes  of  my  soul — to  be  able  to 
make  The  Salvation  Army  such  a  power  for  God  and  of  such 
benefit  to  mankind  that  no  wicked  people  can  spoil  it. 

"  Salvation  for  ever !  Salvation — Yellow,  Red,  and  Blue ! 
I  am  for  it,  my  darling,  and  so  are  you. 

"  I  have  heard  about  your  Open-Air  services  with  the  great- 
est satisfaction,  and  praise  God  with  all  my  heart  that  in  the 
midst  of  the  difficulties  of  climate  and  politics,  etc.,  you  have 
been  able  to  go  forward. 

"I  have  the  daily  papers  read  to  me,  and  among  other 
things  that  are  very  mysterious  and  puzzling  are  the  particu- 
lars that  I  gather  of  the  dreadful  heat  that  you  have  had  to 
suffer,  both  as  a  people  and  as  individuals. 

"  You  seem  to  have,  indeed,  been  having  lively  times  with 
the  weather.     It  must  have  tried  you  very  much. 

"My  telling  you  not  to  fret  about  me  is  the  proper  thing  to 
do.  That  is  my  business  in  this  world  very  largely,  and  if  I 
can  only  comfort  your  dear  heart — well,  I  shall  do  good  work. 

"  Good-bye,  my  darling  child.    Write  to  me  as  often  as  you 
can,  but  not  when  overburdened.    I  am  with  you,  and  for  you, 
and  in  you  for  ever  and  ever.    Love  to  everybody. 
"  Your  affectionate  father  and   General, 

"William  Booth.'' 

To  an  Officer  whom  he  regarded  almost  as  a  daughter, 
and  whose  hearing  had  been  greatly  affected,  he  wrote : — 

My  dear  C, — 

"Thanks  for  your  sympathetic  letter.  It  is  good  of  you 
to  think  about  me  now  and  then.  Specially  so  as  you  must  be 
much  and  often  exercised  about  your  own  affliction. 


S44  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"  Perhaps  you  will  think  that  it  is  easier  for  me  to  accept 
mine  than  it  will  be  for  you  to  accept  yours.  I  have  just 
been  thinking  that  to  have  any  difficulty  in  the  Hearing  Organ 
is  not  so  serious  as  a  difficulty  with  the  Seeing.  You  can 
read  and  write,  and  with  a  little  contrivance  and  patience  you 
can  hear  any  communication  that  may  be  specially  interesting 
and  important.  It  is  true,  you  are  shut  out  from  the  pleasure 
and  profit  that  comes  from  the  general  conversation  of  a 
company,  and  from  listening  to  Public  Speakers,  although  a 
great  deal  that  you  miss  is  no  serious  loss  at  all ! 

"  In  my  case,  I  can  imagine  I  am  worse  off.  With  me, 
reading  is  impossible,  and  writing  is  so  difficult  that,  although 
I  can  scratch  a  few  lines,  the  work  soon  becomes  so  taxing 
and  difficult  that  I  have  to  relinquish  it.  So  we'll  sympathise 
the  one  with  the  other.  We  will  trust  in  God,  take  courage, 
and  look  forward  to  brighter  days. 

"Anyway,  God  lives,  and  there  are  a  thousand  things  we 
can  do  for  Him,  and  what  we  can  do  we  will  do,  and  we  will 
do  it  with  our  might." 

Every  thoughtful  reader  of  this  volume  will  naturally 
have  asked  himself  many  times  over,  how  was  it  possible 
for  the  Leader  of  a  great  world-wide  Mission  to  leave  his 
Headquarters,  year  after  year,  for  weeks  and  sometimes 
for  months  at  a  time,  without  involving  great  risk  of  dis- 
aster to  his  Army  ? 

The  answer,  familiar  to  every  one  at  Headquarters,  and, 
indeed,  to  many  others,  lay  in  the  existence,  largely  out 
of  sight  even  to  the  vast  majority  of  the  Soldiers  of  The 
Army,  of  a  man  who,  since  his  very  youth,  had  been  The 
General's  unwearyable  assistant.  It  was  the  present  Gen- 
eral Bramwell  Booth,  content  to  toil  mostly  at  executive  or 
administrative  work,  whether  at  Headquarters  or  elsewhere, 
unseen  and  unapplauded,  who  was  ceaselessly  watching  over 
every  portion  of  the  vast  whole,  and  as  ceaselessly  prepar- 
ing for  advances,  noting  defects,  stopping  mistaken  move- 
ments, and  urging  at  every  turn,  upon  every  one,  the  im- 
portance of  prayer  and  faith,  the  danger  of  self-confidence, 
and  the  certainty  of  God's  sufficiency  for  all  who  relied 
wholly  upon  Him.  It  was  this  organiser  of  victory  in  the 
individual  and  on  many  fields  who  made  it  possible  for  the 


THE  END  245 

Army  to  march  forward  whilst  its  General  was  receiving 
from  city  to  city,  and  from  village  to  village,  in  motor  and 
other  tours,  the  reward  of  faithful  service  to  the  poorest 
everywhere,  and  was  also  ever  advancing  on  the  common 
foe. 

Therefore  this  book  could  not  be  complete  without  some 
account  of  the  then  Chief  of  the  Staff  to  explain  his  con- 
struction. 

Born  in  HaHfax,  in  1856,  amidst  one  of  those  great 
Revival  Tours  in  which  his  parents  shared  in  the  tre- 
mendous toils  that  brought,  in  every  place  they  visited, 
hundreds  of  souls  into  deep  conviction  of  sin  and  hearty 
submission  to  God,  the  little  one  must  have  drunk  in,  from 
his  very  childhood,  some  of  that  anxiety  for  the  perishing, 
and  joy  in  their  deliverance,  which  form  the  basis  of  a 
Salvationist  career.  Named  after  one  of  the  greatest  Holi- 
ness preachers,  who  accompanied  John  Wesley  in  his  cam- 
paigning, in  the  express  hope  to  both  father  and  mother, 
that  he  should  become  an  apostle  of  that  teaching,  the  faith 
of  his  parents  received  abundant  fulfilment  in  his  after  life. 

As  a  boy  he  shared  with  them  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
their  eight  gipsy  years,  during  which  they  were  practically 
without  a  home,  and  the  one  settled  year  of  (as  they 
thought)  half  wasted  time,  amidst  the  usual  formalities, 
always  galling  to  them  both,  or  ordinary  Church  life;  so 
that,  with  his  usual  acuteness  of  observation,  he  must 
have  noted  all  their  horror  of  routine,  and  learnt,  more 
than  anybody  noticed,  the  reasons  why  the  Churches  had 
become  divorced  from  the  crowds  and  the  crowds  from  the 
Churches. 

In  his  tenth  year,  when  they  settled  in  London,  and 
began  their  real  life  work,  he  cannot  but  have  partaken 
fully  of  the  satisfaction  this  gave  to  them,  whilst  they 
were,  as  yet,  buried  amidst  the  mass  of  East-End  misery. 
It  was  shortly  before  the  foundation  of  the  Work  that  he 
was  converted  at  one  of  his  mother's  own  Meetings.  The 
shrinking  from  publicity,  which  seems  an  essential  part 
of  every  conscientious  person,  held  him  long  back  from 
resolving  to  become  one  of  their  Officers.     But  during  all 


246  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

the  years  between  his  being  saved  and  that  great  decision, 
he  was  constantly  helping,  first  in  Children's  Meetings, 
and  then  in  office  work,  so  that  at  twenty-one  he  was  al- 
ready a  very  experienced  man,  both  in  the  work  of  saving 
souls,  and  in  much  of  the  business  management  for  which 
a  great  Movement  calls. 

When  I  first  saw  him  at  seventeen,  he  was  still  studying; 
but  he  had  been,  during  the  previous  eighteen  months  of  the 
General's  illness  and  absence,  his  mother's  mainstay  in  the 
managing  both  the  public  and  the  office  work  of  "  The  Chris- 
tian Mission,"  and  the  Secretary  and,  largely,  manager  of  a 
set  of  soup  kitchens,  the  precursors,  in  some  ways,  of  our 
present  Social  Wing.  For  all  this  to  be  possible  to  a  lad 
of  seventeen,  of  delicate  health,  may  give  some  little  indi- 
cation of  the  faculties  with  which  God  had  endowed  him. 

It  was  not,  however,  till  five  years  later,  when  he  had 
fully  conquered  his  own  taste  for  a  medical  career  that 
he  gave  himself  fully  to  the  War.  Alone,  or  with  one 
of  his  sisters,  he  visited  the  towns  where  many  of  our 
largest  Corps  were  being  raised,  holding  Meetings  in  the- 
atres and  other  popular  resorts,  so  that  he  gained  first-hand 
all  the  experiences  of  Officers,  both  in  the  pioneering  days 
and  in  the  after  years  of  struggle  against  all  manner  of 
difficulty,  when  every  sort  of  problem  as  to  individuals,  and 
Corps,  had  to  be  dealt  with  from  hour  to  hour. 

This  much  to  explain  how  it  was  possible  for  a  man 
so  young  to  become  at  twenty-five  the  worthy  and  capable 
Chief  of  the  Staff  of  an  Army  already  at  work  in  both 
hemispheres  and  on  both  sides  of  the  world.  The  reader 
will  also  be  able  to  understand  how  the  Chief,  travelling 
by  night  as  often  as  by  day,  could  visit  the  General  in 
the  midst  of  any  of  his  Campaigns,  and  in  the  course  of 
a  brief  journey  from  city  to  city,  or  between  night  and 
morning  confer  fully  with  him,  and  take  decisions  upon 
matters  that  could  not  await  even  the  delay  of  a  mail. 

The  comfort  to  The  General,  as  he  often  testified,  of 
the  continual  faithful  service  of  this  slave  of  a  son  was 
one  of  the  most  invaluable  forces  of  his  life.  Whilst,  on 
the  one  side  we  may  see  in  such  self -renouncing  aban- 


THE  END  24T 

donment  a  certificate  to  and  evidence  of  the  nature  of 
The  General's  own  life,  we  must  read  in  it,  at  the  same 
time,  some  part  of  the  explanation  of  his  boundless  activ- 
ities and  influence. 

For  the  Chief  of  those  days,  The  General  of  these,  to 
have  gone  to  and  come  away  from  his  father's  daily  scenes 
of  triumph  without  getting  the  slightest  appetite  himself 
for  public  displays,  or  yielding  in  the  slightest  to  the  crav- 
ing after  human  support  or  encouragement,  to  turn  him 
aside  from  the  humdrum  of  duty,  is  one  proof  of  those 
gracious  evidences  of  God's  saving  and  keeping  power  with 
which  the  history  of  The  Salvation  Army  abounds. 


Chapter  XXV 

TRIBUTES 

The  great  tribute  The  General  received  by  the  vast  as- 
sembhes  in  every  country  at  his  Funeral  and  Memorial 
services,  said  far  more  than  any  words  could  have  expressed 
of  the  extent  to  which  he  had  become  recognised  every- 
where as  a  true  friend  of  all  who  were  in  need,  and  of  the 
degree  to  which  he  had  succeeded  in  prompting  all  his 
Officers  and  people  to  act  up  to  that  ideal. 

The  following,  a  small  selection  of  the  most  prominent 
testimonies  borne  to  his  life  by  the  Press  of  various  coun- 
tries, will  give  some  idea  of  what  was  thought  and  felt 
by  his  contemporaries  about  him  and  his  work : — 

The  Christian  World,  August  22,  1912 

"No  name  is  graven  more  deeply  in  the  history  of  his  time 
than  that  of  William  Booth,  Founder  and  General  of  The 
Salvation  Army,  who  passed  to  his  rest  on  Tuesday  night. 
At  sixteen,  the  Nottingham  builder's  son  underwent  an  *  old- 
fashioned  conversion,'  and,  as  he  told  a  representative  of 
The  Christian  World,  *  within  six  hours  he  was  going  in  and 
out  of  the  cottages  in  the  back  streets,  preaching  the  Gospel 
that  had  saved  himself.'  From  that  day  he  toiled  terribly, 
and  never  more  terribly  than  since  his  sixtieth  year,  after 
which  the  Social  Scheme  was  launched,  and  The  General  un- 
dertook those  evangelistic  tours  in  which  he  traversed  Eng- 
land again  and  again  in  every  direction,  and  covered  a  great 
part  of  the  Western  world.  How  he  kept  up  is  a  miracle, 
for  he  was  a  frail-looking  figure,  and  he  ate  next  to  nothing 
— a  slice  or  two  of  toast  or  bread  and  butter  or  rice  pudding 
and  a  roasted  apple,  were  his  meals  for  many  years  past.  It 
was  his  great  heart,  his  invincible  faith,  his  indomitable  cour- 
age that  kept  him  going. 

"  Plutarch  would  have  put  William  Booth  and  John  Wesley 
together  in  his  *  Parallel  Lives.'    Each  man  *  thought  in  con- 

248 


TRIBUTES  249 

tinents/  *The  world  is  my  parish/  said  Wesley,  and  Meth- 
odism to-day  covers  the  world.  So  General  Booth  believed 
in  world  conquest  for  Christ,  because  he  believed  in  Christ's 
all-conquering  power,  and  he  had  the  courage  of  his  convic- 
tion. He  learnt  much  from  Wesley,  for  he  began  as  a  Meth- 
odist. He  knew  what  can  be  done  by  thorough  organisation, 
and  what  financial  resources  there  are  in  the  multiplication  of 
small  but  cheerful  givers.  Like  Wesley,  too,  he  combined 
the  genius  for  great  conceptions  with  the  genius  for  practical 
detail,  without  which  great  conceptions  soon  vanish  into  thin 
air.  He  was  more  masterful  than  Wesley.  When  he  broke 
away  from  the  Methodist  New  Connexion,  and  founded  the 
Christian  Mission  of  which  The  Salvation  Army  was  the  evo- 
lution, he  found  that  committees  wasted  their  time  in  talk  and 
were  distracted  in  opinion.  He  read  lives  of  Napoleon,  Wel- 
lington, and  other  great  commanders,  and  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  a  committee  is  an  excellent  thing  to  receive  and 
carry  out  instructions  from  a  masterful  man  who  knows  what 
he  wants,  but  otherwise  they  are  worthless.  He  persuaded 
those  of  his  colleagues  who  had  unbounded  belief  in  him,  and 
whose  sole  concern  was  the  progress  of  the  Mission,  to  accept 
the  military  organisation  with  himself  as  Commander-in-Chief, 
and  with  his  driving  power  and  the  inspiration  of  his  heroic 
example,  those  Officers  went  to  every  part  of  Great  Britain 
and  to  something  like  fifty  different  countries  and  *  did  ex- 
ploits.* That  system  may  work  with  a  selfless  Christian  hero 
who  is  a  born  Caesar  or  Napoleon.  The  Salvation  Army's 
severe  testing  time  has  now  come,  when  it  will  be  seen  whether, 
after  all,  the  more  cautious  Wellingtonian  methods  of  Wes- 
ley laid  firmer  foundations. 

"The  secret  of  General  Booth's  personal  force  and  com- 
manding power  was  an  open  one.  To  him  there  were  no 
realities  so  demonstrable  as  the  realities  of  the  spiritual  world 
— most  of  all,  the  reality  of  Christ's  real  personal  presence 
and  saving  power  to-day.  He  found  that  unquestioning  faith 
in  Christ's  saving  power  worked  everywhere  and  under  all 
conditions.  We  differed  from  him  on  theological  details,  but 
we  gladly  recognise  that  scores  of  thousands  of  *  moral  mir- 
acles,' in  the  shape  of  lives  remade  that  were  apparently  shat- 
tered beyond  repair  and  trodden  in  the  mud  of  dissipation  and 
bold  habitual  sinning,  verified  the  faith.  The  burglar  who 
had  been  forty  years  in  prison  and  penal  servitude,  the  most 
shameless   of    Magdalens,    the   drinker   and   gambler   brought 


^50  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

down  to  the  Embankment  at  midnight,  greedy  for  a  meal  of 
soup  and  bread,  the  man  or  woman  determined  to  end  a  state 
of  despair  and  disgust  with  the  world  by  suicide,  these,  under 
the  influence  of  The  Salvation  Army,  became  *  new  creations.' 
But  the  same  conviction,  and  the  evidences  of  its  miraculous 
operation,  captured  a  large  number  of  men  and  women  of  the 
cultured  and  refined  classes,  who  were  either  the  victims  of 
moral  weakness,  or  who  felt  the  challenge  to  service  and 
sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  others.  Kings,  Queens,  and  Royal 
Princes  and  Princesses  were  glad  to  see  General  Booth,  and 
gave  their  encouragement. to  his  work,  and  it  was  fitting  that, 
when  King  Edward  died,  a  Salvation  Army  band  should  com- 
fort the  widowed  lady  by  playing  in  the  courtyard  of  Bucking- 
ham Palace  her  husband's  favourite  hymns. 

"The  Social  Work  was  an  inevitable  outcome  of  the  evan- 
gelistic work.  It  had  its  dangers,  and  The  Salvation  Army  has 
not  escaped  all  of  them  without  scathe.  But  it  was  found  that 
the  difficulty  with  thousands  of  the  Converts  was  that  of  giving 
them  a  chance  to  redeem  their  past,  and  to  nurse  them  physically 
and  morally  till  they  were  able  to  stand  alone,  in  a  position  to 
take  their  places  again  in  the  ranks  of  decent  and  self-respecting 
citizenship.  Then  there  was  the  *  Submerged  Tenth ' — the 
human  wreckage  tossed  hither  and  thither  by  the  swirling  cur- 
rents of  the  social  sea.  To  safeguard  the  one  class,  and  to  save 
the  other  from  themselves  and  their  circumstances,  the  Social 
scheme  was  launched,  and  those  who  estimate  its  success  by 
moral  valuation  rather  than  in  terms  of  finance,  will  say  that  it 
has  justified  itself,  though  it  never  accomplished  what  The  Gen- 
eral fondly  hoped. 

"  Now  that  his  worn-out  body  lies  awaiting  burial.  The  Gen- 
eral's personal  worth  and  the  worth  of  his  work  are  frankly 
confessed  even  by  those  who  were  once  his  bitterest  critics. 
The  Times  had  a  leader  in  which  it  said  that  he  rose  from  ob- 
scurity to  be  known  as  the  head  of  a  vast  organisation  'well 
known  over  all  the  world,  and  yielding  to  him  an  obedience 
scarcely  less  complete  than  that  which  the  Catholic  Church 
yields  to  the  Roman  Pontiff.'  We  wish  The  Times  had  fol- 
lowed The  Standard  in  dropping  the  invidious  quotation  marks 
from  the  title,  General.  William  Booth  was  a  great  leader  of 
men  in  a  world  campaign  of  individual  and  social  Salvation. 
Why  reserve  the  title  only  for  men  skilled  in  the  art  of  whole- 
sale human  slaughter?'* 


TRIBUTES  251 

The  Times,  August  8,  1912 

"  The  death  of  General  Booth,  which  we  announce  with  great 
regret  this  morning,  closes  a  strange  career,  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  that  our  age  has  seen,  and  will  set  the  world  meditat- 
ing on  that  fervent,  forceful  character,  and  that  keen,  though,  as 
some  would  say,  narrow  intelligence.  Born  of  unrecorded  parent- 
age, educated  anyhow,  he  had  raised  himself  from  a  position  of 
friendless  obscurity  to  be  the  head  of  a  vast  Organisation  not 
confined  to  this  country  or  to  the  British  race,  but  well  known 
over  half  the  world,  and  yielding  to  him  an  obedience  scarcely 
less  complete  than  that  which  the  Catholic  Church  yields  to  the 
Roman  Pontiff.  The  full  memoir  which  we  publish  to-day 
shows  how  this  Salvation  Army  grew  up — the  creation  of  one 
man,  or  rather  of  a  pair  of  human  beings,  for  the  late  Mrs. 
Booth  was  scarcely  less  important  to  its  early  development  than 
was  her  husband.  Both  of  them  belonged  to  the  Wesleyan 
body,  of  which  William  Booth  at  the  time  of  his  marriage  was 
a  minister,  though  a  very  independent  and  insubordinate  one; 
and  deep  ingrained  in  both  was  the  belief  which  is  a  more 
essential  part  of  the  Wesleyan  than  of  any  other  creed,  the 
belief  in  conversion  as  an  instantaneous  change  affecting  the 
whole  life.  Booth  himself  had  been  converted  at  fifteen,  and  at 
sixty  he  wrote  of  'the  hour,  the  place  of  this  glorious  trans- 
action '  as  an  undying  memory.  Out  of  this  idea  of  conversion, 
as  not  only  the  most  powerful  motive  force  in  life,  but  as  a  force 
which  was,  so  to  speak,  waiting  to  be  applied  to  all,  arose  the 
whole  Salvation  Army  Movement.  It  was  not,  of  course,  in  any 
sense  a  new  idea.  Christians  had  been  familiar  with  it  in  all 
ages,  and  both  the  New  Testament  and  the  history  of  the  early 
saints  supply  instances  in  support  of  it.  But  Booth  was 
probably  more  affected  by  more  recent  evidence.  Imperfect  as 
had  been  his  training  for  the  ministry,  he  doubtless  learnt  pretty 
thoroughly  the  history  of  Wesley  and  Whitefield,  and  of  the 
astonishing  early  years  of  the  Methodist  movement.  In  his  own 
youth,  too.  Revivalism  was  an  active  force,  and  he  himself  had 
been  strongly  moved  by  an  American  missionary.  His  original-  ) 
ity  lay  in  carrying  down  the  doctrine  not  only  to  the  highways 
and  hedges,  but  to  the  slums,  the  homes  of  the  very  poor,  the 
haunts  of  criminals  and  riff-raff;  in  getting  hold  of  these  people; 
in  using  the  worst  of  them — "  converted,"  as  he  honestly  be- 
lieved— as  a  triumphant  advertisement;  and  then  in  organising  \ 
his  followers  into  a  vast  Army,  with  himself  as  absolute  Chief,  j 


\. 


252  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

On  the  methods  adopted  nothing  need  be  added  to  what  is  said 
in  the  memoir;  they  are  familiar  to  all,  though  not  so  familiar 
as  they  were  some  twenty  years  ago. 

"  The  root-idea  of  William  Booth's  religion,  the  object  of  his 
missionary  work,  was  'the  saving  of  souls.*  Translated  into 
other  language,  this  means  the  establishment  of  a  conviction  in 
the  minds  of  men,  women,  and  children  that  they  were  recon- 
ciled to  God,  saved,  and  preserved  to  all  eternity  from  the  pen- 
alties of  sin.  We  do  not  propose  to  enter  on  the  delicate 
ground  of  theological  discussion,  or  to  argue  for  or  against  the 
truth  or  value  of  such  a  conviction.  The  interesting  point,  in 
relation  to  General  Booth's  ideas  and  personality,  is  to  note  how 
this  belief  is  worked  into  the  system  of  The  Army  in  the 
I  official  programme,  fantastically  called  the  Articles  of  War, 
'which  has  to  l^  signed  by  every  Candidate  for  enrolment.  This 
curious  document,  which  will  greatly  interest  future  social  his- 
(torians,  consists  of  three  parts — a  creed,  as  definite  as  any 
taught  by  the  Churches;  a  promise  to  abstain  from  drink,  bad 
language,  dishonesty,  etc.;  and  a  solemn  promise  to  obey  the 
lawful  orders  of  the  Officers,  and  never  on  any  consideration 
to  oppose  the  interests  of  The  Salvation  Army.  The  last  part, 
the  promissory  part,  is  made  much  stricter  in  the  case  of  Can- 
didates for  the  position  of  Officer;  these  solemnly  promise  not 
only  to  obey  The  General,  but  to  report  any  case  they  may 
observe  in  others  of  *  neglect  or  variation  from  his  orders  and 
directions.'  Membership  of  the  Organisation  thus  depends  on 
absolute  obedience,  and  on  a  profession  of  faith  in  Salvation  in 
the  definite  sense  formulated  in  the  Articles  of  War.  The  two 
are  inseparably  conjoined.  When  we  reflect  upon  what  human 
nature  is,  in  the  class  from  which  so  many  of  the  members  of 
The  Army  have  been  drawn,  when  we  think  how  difficult  it  is 
to  reconcile  the  hand-to-mouth  existence  of  the  casual  labourer 
with  any  high  standard  of  conduct,  let  alone  of  religion.  Gen- 
eral Booth's  success,  partial  though  it  has  been,  is  an  astonishing 
fact.  It  implies  a  prodigious  strength  of  character,  and  a  genius 
for  seeing  what  would  appeal  to  large  numbers  of  humble  folk. 
"Will  that  success  continue  now  that  General  Booth  is  dead? 
Everywhere  we  hear  that  The  Army  is  not  bringing  in  Recruits 
as  fast  as  of  old.  Its  novelty  has  worn  off;  its  uniforms  are  no 
longer  impressive;  its  street  services,  though  they  provoke  no 
opposition,  do  not  seem  to  attract  the  wastrel  and  the  *  rough '  as 
they  did  at  first.  We  can  readily  believe  that  the  work  goes  on 
more  or  less  as  before;  but  the  gatherings,  we  suspect,  are 


TRIBUTES  S5S 


mostly  composed  of  those  who  have  long  frequented  them  and 
of  a  certain  number  of  new  members  drawn  rather  from  exist- 
ing sects  than  from  persons  till  now  untouched  by  religion 
Then,  with  regard  to  the  other  side  of  The  Army's  work,  the 
Social  Schemes  outlined  in  In  Darkest  England  have  met  with 
only  moderate  success,  as  all  cool  observers  foretold  in  1890. 
They  have,  at  least,  provided  no  panacea  for  poverty.  Probably 
Mr.  Booth  felt  this  during  the  last  years  of  his  life;  but  he  has 
been  spared  the  sight  of  the  still  further  decline  of  his  projects, 
which  to  most  of  us  seems  inevitable.  Of  course,  some  persons 
are  more  confident:  they  argue  that  Napoleon's  system  did  not 
disappear  after  Waterloo,  nor  Wesley's  system  with  the  death 
of  its  founder,  and  that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  as  strong 
as  ever,  though  Pope  after  Pope  disappears.  That  is  true,  but 
for  the  very  reason  that  these  systems  were  elaborate  organisa- 
tions, based  on  the  facts  of  life.  The  Code  Napoleon  and  the 
Methodist  Connexion  were  much  too  well  adapted  to  human 
needs  to  disappear  with  their  authors.  On  the  other  hand, 
movements  and  systems  which  depend  wholly  upon  one  man  do 
not  often  prove  to  be  more  than  ephemeral.  But  none  would 
deny  that  there  is  much  to  be  learnt  from  The  Salvation  Army 
and  from  the  earnest,  strenuous,  and  resourceful  personality  of 
the  man  who  made  it.  Let  us  hope  that,  if  The  Army  as  an 
Organisation  should  ultimately  fade  away,  the  great  lesson  of 
its  even  temporary  success  will  not  be  forgotten:  the  lesson 
that  any  force  which  is  to  move  mankind  must  regard  man's 
nature  as  spiritual  as  well  as  material,  and  that  the  weak  and 
humble,  the  poor  and  the  *  submerged,'  share  in  that  double  na- 
ture as  much  as  those  who  spend  their  lives  in  the  sunshine  of 
worldly  prosperity." 

The  Daily  Chronicle,  August  21,  1912 

"To-day  we  have  the  mournful  duty  of  chronicling  the 
passing  of  William  Booth,  the  Head  of  that  vast  Organisation, 
the  Salvation  Army.  The  world  has  lost  its  greatest  missionary- 
evangelist,  one  of  the  supermen  of  the  age.  Almost  every  land 
on  the  face  of  the  globe  knows  this  pioneer  and  his  Army,  The 
Army  which  has  waged  such  long,  determined,  and  successful 
battle  against  the  world's  ramparts  of  sin  and  woe.  Not  one 
country,  but  fifty,  will  feel  to-day  a  severe  personal  loss.  From 
Lapland  to  Honolulu  heads  will  be  bowed  in  sorrow  at  the  news 


w 


254  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

that  that  striking  figure  who  has  been  responsible  for  so  much 
of  the  religious  progress  of  the  world  of  to-day  is  no  more. 

"  The  stupendous  crusade  which  he  initiated  had  the  very 
humblest  beginnings.  It  opened  in  the  slummy  purlieus  of  Not- 
tingham, that  city  which  gave  to  the  world  two  of  the  greatest 
religious  leaders  of  modern  times — General  Booth  and  Dr. 
Paton.  It  has  passed  through  periods  of  open  enmity,  opposi- 
tion, criticism,  but  its  Leader  and  his  band  of  devoted  helpers 
have  never  lost  sight  of  their  high  aim.  They  were  engaged 
in  *  war  on  the  hosts  that  keep  the  underworld  submerged,'  and 
they  have  now  long  been  justified  by  their  unparalleled  achieve- 
ments. The  time  of  scorn  and  indifference  passed,  and  General 
Booth  lived  to  receive  honour  at  the  hands  of  kings  and  princes, 
and  to  have  their  support  for  his  work. 

"  It  is  not  given  to  every  man  who  sets  out  with  a  great  pur- 
pose to  accomplish  his  aims.  But  of  General  Booth  it  may  be 
said  that  he  did  more.  His  Movement  reached  dimensions  of 
which  he  probably  never  dreamed  in  its  early  days,  yet  the 
extraordinary  results  made  him  ever  hungrier  for  conquest.  In 
a  way  the  latter  years  of  his  life  were  perhaps  the  most  notable 
of  his  whole  career.  He  displayed  a  vitality  and  enthusiasm 
which  seemed  to  increase  with  the  weight  of  time.  At  a  time 
when  most  men  seek  a  greater  measure  of  repose.  General  Booth 
worked  on  with  all  the  freshness  of  early  years.  And  it  can 
be  said  that  he  has  died  in  harness.  He  did  not  lift  his  finger 
from  the  pulse  of  the  far-reaching  Organisation  which  he 
brought  into  being  until  death  called. 

"  The  story  of  the  growth  of  The  Salvation  Army  is  the  most 
remarkable  in  the  history  of  the  work  of  the  spiritual,  social, 
and  material  regeneration  of  the  submerged.  From  the  by-ways 
of  all  the  world  human  derelicts,  which  other  agencies  passed 
by,  have  been  rescued.  No  one  was  too  degraded,  too  repulsive 
to  be  neglected.  The  work  is  too  great  to  be  estimated  in  a 
way  which  can  show  its  extent.  It  has  been  achieved  mainly 
by  two  great  factors.  The  first  is  perfect  organisation.  Lord 
Wolseley  once  described  General  Booth  as  the  greatest  organ- 
iser in  the  world.  The  second  feature  was  the  wonderful 
personality  of  The  Army's  chief.  He  impressed  it  not  only 
upon  his  colleagues  but  upon  those  whom  he  wished  to  rescue, 
and  on  the  public  at  large.  He  radiated  human  sympathy  and 
enthusiasm.  His  loss  will  be  a  heavy  one  for  the  world;  it 
will  be  a  severe  blow  for  The  Army.  But  we  cannot  think 
that  his  good  work  has  not  been  built  upon  sound  foundations, 


TRIBUTES  255 

and  that  the  war  he  directed  so  ably  and  so  long  will  be  re- 
laxed. Nationally  The  Army  has  done  magnificent  work  in 
fifty  countries,  and  it  has,  therefore,  tended  to  promote  a 
greater  spirit  of  brotherhood  among  the  nations.  To-day  the 
whole  world  will  unite  to  pay  its  tribute  to  a  splendid  life  of 
devotion  to  a  great  cause.  To  that  world  he  leaves  a  splen- 
did example,  and  it  will  be  the  highest  tribute  that  can  be  paid 
to  his  memory  to  keep  green  that  lofty  example  which  he  set 
before  all  peoples." 

The  Daily  Telegraph,  August  21,  1912 
"  It  is  with  no  ordinary  or  conventional  regret  that  we  re- 
cord this  morning  the  death  of  General  Booth.  The  news  will 
be  received  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Salvationists  with 
profound  and  reverential  grief,  and  by  many  who  are  not  Sal- 
vationists, and  who  never  could  be,  with  respectful  and  sym- 
pathetic sorrow.  For,  whatever  we  may  think  of  William 
Booth  and  of  the  wonderful  Organisation  which  he  so  tri- 
umphantly established,  it  is  certain  that  he  belonged  to  the 
company  of  saints,  and  that  during  the  eighty-three  years  of 
a  strenuous  life,  he  devoted  himself,  so  far  as  in  him  lay,  to 
the  solemn  duty  of  saving  men's  souls  and  extending  the  Di- 
vine Kingdom  on  earth.  That  success  attended  his  efforts  is, 
from  this  point  of  view,  not  of  so  much  consequence  as  that 
the  success  was  deserved  by  the  patient,  devout,  and  self-sac- 
rificing zeal  of  the  Founder  of  The  Salvation  Army.  Long 
ago  William  Booth  prevailed  against  the  easy  scepticism  of 
those  who  found  fault  with  his  aims,  and  the  sincere  dislike 
of  humble  and  reverent  men,  who  doubted  whether  the  cause 
of  religion  could  be  advanced  by  such  riotous  methods.  Not 
only  was  The  General  of  The  Salvation  Army  a  saint  and  a 
mystic,  who  lived  in  this  world  and  yet  was  not  of  this  world, 
but  he  also  was  possessed  of  much  practical  ability  and  com- 
mon sense,  without  which  the  great  work  of  his  life  could 
never  have  been  accomplished.  We  need  only  refer  to  that 
remarkable  book  which  he  published  in  1890,  In  Darkest  Eng- 
land, and  the  Way  Out,  in  which  will  be  found  proposals  to 
remedy  the  crying  evils  of  pauperism  and  vice  by  such  emi- 
nently wise  expedients  as  Farm  Colonies,  Oversea  Colonies, 
and  Rescue  Homes  for  Fallen  Women;  to  say  nothing  of 
picturesque  but  also  practical  devices,  such  as  the  Prison-Gate 
Brigade,  the  Poor  Man's  Bank,  the  Poor  Man's  Lawyer,  and 
Whitechapel-by-the-Sea.    How    is   it   possible    to   ridicule  the 


256  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

objects  or  character  of  a  man  who  has  proved  himself  so  ear- 
nest a  worker  for  God?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  William  Booth 
was  nothing  less  than  a  genius,  and  towards  the  end  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  world  at  large  gave  very  generous 
recognition,  not  only  to  the  spirit  and  temper,  but  to  the  re- 
sults of  an  extraordinarily  effective,  and,  indeed,  epoch-mak- 
ing Movement.  At  the  instance  of  King  Edward  VII  The 
General  was  officially  invited  to  be  present  at  the  Coronation 
ceremony  in  1902.  Nothing  could  have  marked  more  sig- 
nificantly than  this  single  fact  the  completeness  of  the  change 
of  public  feeling;  and  when,  in  1905,  William  Booth  went  on 
a  progress  through  England,  he  was  welcomed  in  state  by  the 
Mayors  and  Corporations  of  many  towns. 

"  Is  it  better  to  live  in  this  world  with  no  religion  at  all  or 
with  a  narrow  and  violent  form  of  religious  belief?  People 
will  judge  the  deceased  teacher  and  chief,  in  respect  of  his 
theological  and  propagandist  work,  in  accordance  with  the 
views  which  they  hold  upon  this  alternative.  As  regards  his 
social  labours,  his  passionate  efforts  to  help  the  *  submerged 
tenth,'  his  widespread  helpfulness  of  the  poor,  his  shelters  and 
refuges,  the  feeling  must  and  will  be  almost  universal  that  he 
was  an  energetic  and  warm-hearted  benefactor  of  his  kind, 
who  wrought  much  good  to  his  times,  and  helped  others  to  do 
it,  and  who  had  what  Sir  John  Seeley  called  the  *  enthusiasm 
of  humanity*  in  very  honourable,  if  noisy  and  demonstrative, 
form.  But,  since  The  General  mingled  all  this  with  a  cult — 
a  distinct  theological  teaching,  a  theory  of  the  Divine  govern- 
ment and  destiny  of  mankind  which  was  in  external  form,  as 
Huxley  styled  it,  *  Corybantic ' — the  question  does  and  must 
arise  whether  religion  of  the  Salvationist  school  does  good  or 
harm  to  the  human  natures  which  it  addresses.  It  is  not  nec- 
essary to  dwell  upon  the  dislike — we  might,  indeed,  say  the 
repulsion — felt  by  serious  and  elevated  minds  at  the  parapher- 
nalia, the  pious  turmoil,  the  uproar  and  *banalite'  of  much 
that  has  developed  under  the  Banners  of  The  Salvation  Army. 
Prayers  uttered  like  volley-firing,  hymns  roared  to  the  roll  of 
drums  and  the  screaming  of  fifes,  have  been  features  of  this 
remarkable  revival  which  outraged  many  of  the  orthodox, 
and  made  even  the  judicious  and  indulgent  ask  whether  any 
good  could  come  out  of  such  a  Nazareth.  Nobody  gave  utter- 
ance to  this  feeling  with  greater  moderation  or  kindliness 
than  Cardinal  Manning,  when,  while  confessing  that  the  need 
of  spiritual  awakening  among  the  English  poor  was  only  too 


TRIBUTES  257 

well  proved  by  the  success  of  General  Booth — that  the  moral 
and  religious  state  of  East  London  could  alone  have  rendered 
possible  The  Salvation  Army — his  Eminence  added  these 
grave  sentences :  '  Low  words  generate  low  thoughts ;  words 
without  reverence  destroy  the  veneration  of  the  human  mind. 
When  a  man  ceases  to  venerate  he  ceases  to  worship.  Ex- 
travagance, exaggeration,  and  coarseness  are  dangers  inci- 
dent to  all  popular  teachers,  and  these  things  pass  easily  into 
a  strain  which  shocks  the  moral  sense  and  deadens  the  in- 
stinct of  piety.  Familiarity  with  God  in  men  of  chastened 
mind  produces  a  more  profound  veneration;  in  unchastened 
minds  it  runs  easily  into  an  irreverence  which  borders  upon 
impiety.  Even  the  Seraphim  cover  their  faces  in  the  Divine 
Presence.' 

"  Yet  against  what  new  movement  of  spiritual  awakening 
in  the  people — against  what  form  of  religious  revival  might 
not  the  same  argument  of  offended  culture  and  decorous  holi- 
ness be  employed?  And  where  would  the  lower  masses  of 
men  be  to-day  if  Religion  had  not  stooped  out  of  her  celestial 
heights — from  the  first  chapters  of  Christendom  until  the  last 
— to  the  intellectual  and  moral  levels  of  the  poor  and  lowly? 
In  the  sheet,  knit  at  four  corners,  and  lowered  out  of  Heaven, 
there  was  nothing  common  or  unclean.  If,  as  is  practically 
certain.  General  Booth,  by  the  vast  association  which  he 
founded  and  organised,  touched  with  the  sense  of  higher  and 
immortal  things  countless  humble  and  unenlightened  souls;  if, 
in  his  way,  and  in  their  way,  he  brought  home  to  them  the 
love  and  power  of  Heaven,  and  the  duty  and  destiny  of  men, 
then  it  is  not  for  refined  persons  who  keep  aloof  from  such 
vulgar  tasks  to  mock  at  the  life  and  deeds  of  this  remarkable 
man.  The  particulars  which  we  give  elsewhere  of  his  career 
show  how,  like  Wesley,  Whitefield,  and  Spurgeon,  in  this 
country,  and  like  Savonarola,  Peter  the  Hermit,  and  the  Safi 
mystics  abroad,  William  Booth,  the  builder's  son  of  Notting- 
ham, was  obviously  set  apart,  and  summoned  by  time,  tempera- 
ment, and  circumstances  for  the  labours  of  his  life.  Like 
Luther,  his  answer  to  all  objections — worldly  or  unworldly — 
would  always  have  been,  *I  can  no  other.'  Meeting  in  Miss 
Catherine  Mumford  the  wife  who  exactly  suited  him,  and 
reinforced  by  many  children,  all  brought  up  in  the  temper  and 
vocation  of  their  parents.  The  General  made  his  family  a  sort 
of  Headquarters*  Staff  of  The  Salvation  Army,  and  celebrated 
his  household  marriages  or  bewept  his  domestic  bereavements 


258  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

with  all  the  eclat  and  effect  of  oecumenical  events.  We  saw 
him  buy  up  and  turn  into  stations  for  his  troops  such  places 
as  the  *  Eagle  Tavern '  and  '  Grecian  Theatre,'  overcome  pop- 
ular rioting  at  Bath,  Guilford,  Eastbourne,  and  elsewhere; 
fill  the  United  Kingdom  with  his  War  Cry  and  his  fighting 
centres,  and  invade  all  Europe,  and  even  the  Far  East.  At 
home  he  plunged,  insatiable  of  moral  and  social  conquests, 
into  his  crusade  for  *  Darkest  England,'  being  powerful  enough 
to  raise  in  less  than  a  month  as  much  as  all  England  and  the 
Colonies  contributed  for  the  Gordon  College  at  Khartoum  in 
response  to  another  victorious  general.  For  General  Booth 
certainly  ended  by  being  victorious.  If  the  evangelical  creed 
he  inculcated  was  rude,  crude,  and  unideal,  it  was  serious,  sin- 
cere, and  stimulating.  He  waged  war  against  the  Devil,  as 
that  mysterious  personage  was  understood  by  him,  with  the 
most  whole-hearted  and  relentless  zeal.  He  enjoined,  let  it 
be  remembered,  an  absolute  temperance,  soberness,  and  chas- 
tity upon  the  Officers  and  rank  and  file  of  his  motley  host; 
and,  ugly  as  some  may  think  the  uniforms  of  Salvationists, 
the  police  and  magistrates  know  that  they  cover  for  the  most 
part  honest  hearts.  Could  The  General  have  affected  all  this 
— or  a  tenth  part  of  it — if  he  had  not  lent  himself  to  the 
eternal  necessities  and  weaknesses  of  the  uneducated,  and 
given  them  his  drill,  his  banners,  his  drums,  his  prayer-volleys,, 
his  poke-bonnets,  and  his  military  tunics?  We  doubt  it,  and 
in  contemplating,  therefore,  the  enormous  good  this  dead  man 
did,  and  sought  to  do,  and  the  neglected  fields  of  humanity 
which  he  tilled  for  the  Common  Master,  we  judge  him  to  be 
one  of  the  chief  and  most  serviceable  figures  of  the  Victorian 
age;  and  well  deserving  from  his  own  followers  the  ecstasy 
of  grief  and  veneration  which  is  being  manifested,  and  from 
contemporary  notice  the  tribute  of  a  hearty  recognition  of 
pious  and  noble  objects  zealously  pursued,  and  love  of  God 
and  of  humanity  made  the  passion  and  the  purpose  of  a  whole 
unflinching   life." 

Daily  Chronicle,  August  22,  1912 

BY    HAROLD    BEGBIE 

"  Scarcely  could  you  find  a  country  in  the  whole  world 
where  men  and  women  are  not  now  grieving  for  the  death  of 
General  Booth.  Among  peoples  of  whom  we  have  never 
heard,  and  in  languages  of  which  we  do  not  know  even  the 


TRIBUTES  259   . 

alphabet,  this  universal  grief  ascends  to  Heaven — ^perhaps  the 
most  universal  grief  ever  known  in  the  history  of  mankind. 

"  One  realises  something  of  the  old  man's  achievement  by 
reflecting  on  this  universal  grief.  It  will  not  do  to  dismiss 
him  lightly.  More,  it  will  not  do  to  express  a  casual  admira- 
tion of  his  character,  an  indulgent  approbation  of  his  work. 
The  man  was  unique.  In  some  ways  he  was  the  superman 
of  his  period.  Never  before  has  a  man  in  his  own  lifetime 
won  so  wide  a  measure  of  deep  and  passionate  human  affection. 

"  It  will  not  do  to  say  that  by  adopting  vulgar  methods  and 
appealing  to  vulgar  people.  General  Booth  established  his  uni- 
versal kingdom  of  emotional  religion.  Let  the  person  inclined 
to  think  in  this  way  dress  himself  in  fantastic  garments,  take 
a  drum,  and  march  through  the  streets  shouting  'Hallelu- 
jah.* There  is  no  shorter  cut  to  humility.  Many  have  tried 
to  do  what  William  Booth  did.  Many  men  as  earnestly  and 
as  tenderly  have  sought  to  waken  drugged  humanity  and  ren- 
der the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  a  reality.  Many  men  have  broken 
their  hearts  in  the  effort  to  save  the  Christian  religion  from 
the  paralysis  of  formalism  and  the  sleeping  sickness  of  phi- 
losophy. It  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  revivify  a  religion,  nor  a 
small  thing  to  rescue  many  thousands  of  the  human  race  from 
sin  and  misery. 

"Let  us  be  generous  and  acknowledge,  now  that  it  is  too 
late  to  cheer  his  heart,  that  General  Booth  accomplished  a 
work  quite  wonderful  and  quite  splendid,  a  work  unique  in 
the  records  of  the  human  race.  Let  us  be  frank  and  say  that 
we  ourselves  could  have  done  nothing  like  it.  Let  us  forget 
our  intellectual  superiority,  and,  instead  of  criticising,  en- 
deavour to  see  as  it  stands  before  us,  and  as  it  really  is,  the 
immense  marvel  of  his  achievement.  Our  canons  of  taste, 
our  notions  of  propriety,  will  change  and  cease  to  be.  The 
saved  souls  of  humanity  will  persist  for  ever. 

"I  remember  very  well  my  first  impression  of  General 
Booth.  I  was  young;  I  knew  little  of  the  sorrow  of  exist- 
ence; I  was  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  traditions  I  had  in- 
herited from  my  ancestors ;  I  was  disposed  to  regard  originality 
as  affectation,  and  great  earnestness  as  a  sign  of  fanaticism. 
In  this  mood  I  sat  and  talked  with  General  Booth,  measured 
him,  judged  him,  and  had  the  audacity  to  express  in  print 
my  opinion  about  him — my  opinion  of  this  huge  giant,  this 
Moses  of  modern  times.  He  offended  me.  The  tone  of  his 
voice   grated   on   my   ears.    His   manner   to   a   servant   who 


^60  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

waited  upon  him  seemed  harsh  and  irritable.  I  found  it  im- 
possible to  believe  that  his  acquaintance  with  spirituality  was 
either  intimate  or  real.  Saints  ought  to  be  gentlemen.  He 
seemed  to  me  a  vulgar  old  man,  a  clumsy  old  humourist,  an 
intolerant,   fanatical,  one  idea'd  Hebraist. 

"Later  in  my  life  I  met  him  on  several  occasions,  and  at 
each  meeting  with  him  I  saw  something  fresh  to  admire, 
something  new  to  love.  I  think  that  he  himself  altered  as  life 
advanced;  but  the  main  change,  of  course,  was  in  myself — 
I  was  able  to  see  him  with  truer  vision,  because  I  was  less 
sure  of  my  own  value  to  the  cosmos,  and  more  interested  to 
discover  the  value  of  other  men.  And  I  was  learning  to  know 
the  sorrows  of  the  world. 

"  There  is  one  very  common  illusion  concerning  General 
Booth.  The  vulgar  sneers  are  forgotten;  the  scandalous  slan- 
der that  he  was  a  self-seeking  charlatan  is  now  ashamed  to 
utter  itself  except  in  vile  quarters;  but  men  still  say — so  anx- 
ious are  they  to  escape  from  the  miracle,  so  determined  to 
account  for  every  great  thing  by  little  reasons — that  his  success 
as  revivalist  lay  only  in  his  powers  as  an  organiser.  Now, 
nothing  is  further  from  the  truth.  General  Booth  was  not  a 
great  organiser,  not  even  a  great  showman.  He  would  have 
ruined  any  business  entrusted  to  his  management.  He  would 
long  ago  have  ruined  the  organisation  of  The  Salvation  Army 
if  his  life  had  been  spent  on  that  side  of  its  operations.  Far 
from  being  the  hard,  shrewd,  calculating,  and  statesmanlike 
genius  of  The  Army's  machinery.  General  Booth  has  always 
been  its  heart  and  soul,  its  dreamer  and  its  inspiration.  The 
brains  of  The  Army  are  to  be  looked  for  elsewhere.  Bram- 
well  Booth  is  the  man  of  affairs.  Bramwell  Booth  is  the 
master-mind  directing  all  those  world-wide  activities.  And 
but  for  Bramwell  Booth  The  Salvation  Army  as  it  now  exists, 
a  vast  catholic  Organisation,  would  be  unknown  to  man- 
kind. 

"  General  Booth's  secret,  so  far  as  one  may  speak  about  it 
at  all,  lay  in  his  perfectly  beautiful  and  most  passionate  sym- 
pathy with  suffering  and  pain.  I  have  met  only  one  other 
man  in  my  life  who  so  powerfully  realised  the  sorrows  of  other 
people.  Because  General  Booth  realised  these  sorrows  so  very 
truly  and  so  very  actually,  he  was  able  to  communicate  his 
burning  desire  for  radical  reformation  to  other  people.  The 
contagiousness  of  his  enthusiasm  was  the  obvious  cause  of  his 
extraordinary  success,  but  the  hidden  cause  of  this  enthusiasm 


TRIBUTES  261 

was  the  living,  breathing,  heart-beating  reality  of  his  sympathy 
with  sorrow.  When  he  spoke  to  one  of  the  sufferings  endured 
by  the  children  of  a  drunkard,  for  instance,  it  was  manifest 
that  he  himself  felt  the  very  tortures  and  agonies  of  those  un- 
happy children — really  felt  them,  really  endured  them.  His 
face,  showed  it.  There  was  no  break  in  the  voice,  no  pious 
exclamation,  no  gesture  in  the  least  theatrical  or  sentimental. 
One  saw  in  the  man's  face  that  he  was  enduring  pain,  that 
the  thought  was  so  real  to  him  that  he  himself  actually  suf- 
fered, and  suffered  acutely.  If  we  had  imagination  enough  to 
feel  as  he  felt  the  dreadful  fears  and  awful  deprivation  of  lit- 
tle children  in  the  godless  slums  of  great  cities,  we,  too,  should 
rush  out  from  our  comfortable  ease  to  raise  Salvation  Armies. 
It  would  be  torture  to  sit  still.  It  would  be  impossible  to  do 
nothing. 

"  This  wonderful  old  man  suffered  all  his  life  as  few  have 
ever  suffered.  And  his  suffering  arose  from  the  tremendous 
power  of  his  imagination.  At  a  Meeting  he  would  tell  amus- 
ing stories,  and  in  the  company  of  several  people  he  would 
talk  with  a  gaiety  that  deceived;  but  with  one  or  two,  deeply 
interested  to  know  why  he  was  a  Salvationist,  and  what  he 
really  thought  about  life,  he  would  open  his  heart,  and  show 
one  at  least  something  of  its  agony.  He  was  afflicted  by  the 
sins  of  the  whole  world.  They  hurt  him,  tore  him,  wounded 
him,  and  broke  his  heart.  He  did  not  merely  know  that  people 
suffer  from  starvation;  that  children  run  to  hide  under  a  bed 
at  the  first  sound  of  a  drunken  parent's  step  on  the  stair;  that 
thousands  of  women  are  friendless  and  defaced  on  the  streets; 
that  thousands  of  boys  go  to  their  bodily  and  spiritual  ruin 
only  for  want  of  a  little  natural  parental  care;  that  men  and 
women  are  locked  up  like  wild  beasts  in  prison  who  would  be 
good  parents  and  law-abiding  citizens  were  love  allowed  to 
enter  and  plead  with  them — he  did  not  merely  know  these 
things,  but  he  visualised  and  felt  in  his  own  person  the  actual 
tortures  of  all  these  perishing  creatures.  He  wept  for  them. 
He  prayed  for  them.  Sometimes  he  would  not  sleep  for  think- 
ing of  them. 

"  I  have  seen  him  with  suffering  face  and  extended  arms 
walk  up  and  down  his  room,  crying  out  from  the  depths  of  his 
heart :  *  Oh,  those  poor  people,  those  poor  people ! — the  sad, 
wretched  women,  the  little,  trembling,  frightened  children 
meant  to  be  so  happy! — all  cursed  by  sin,  cursed  and  crushed 
and  tortured  by  sin ! '    And  he  would  then  open  his  arms  as  if 


262  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

to  embrace  the  whole  world,  and  exclaim,  *  Why  won't  they 
let  us  save  them?' — meaning,  'Why  won't  society  and  the 
State  let  The  Salvation  Army  save  them  ? ' 

"  His  attitude  towards  suffering  and  sorrow  was,  neverthe- 
less, harder  in  many  ways  than  that  of  certain  humanitarians. 
He  believed  in  a  Devil,  he  believed  in  Hell,  and  he  believed  in 
the  saying  that  there  are  those  who  would  not  be  persuaded 
though  one  rose  from  the  dead.  And  so  he  held  it  the  wisdom 
of  statesmanship  that  when  all  men  have  been  given  a  fair 
opportunity  for  repentance,  and  after  love  has  done  every- 
thing in  its  power  to  save  and  convert  the  lawless  and  bad, 
those  who  will  not  accept  Salvation  should  be  punished  with 
all  the  force  of  a  civilisation  that  must  needs  defend  itself. 
The  word  punishment  was  very  often  on  his  lips.  I  think 
that  he  believed  in  the  value  of  punishment  almost  as  pro- 
foundly as  he  believed  in  the  value  of  love.  He  believed  that 
love  could  save  the  very  worst  man  and  the  very  worst  woman 
in  the  world  who  wanted  to  be  saved;  and  he  also  believed 
that  nothing  was  so  just  and  wise  as  rigorous  punishment  for 
the  unrighteous  who  would  not  be  saved.  I  think  that  he 
would  have  set  up  in  England,  if  he  had  enjoyed  the  power 
which  we  give  to  politicians,  two  classes  of  prison — the  re- 
forming prison,  controlled  only  by  compassionate  Christians 
who  believe  in  love;  and  the  punishing  prison,  which  isolates 
the  evil  and  iniquitous  from  contact  with  innocence  and  strug- 
gling virtue.  In  that  direction  this  most  merciful  man  was 
merciless. 

"  Why  he  became  a  Salvationist  is  very  clear.  He  knew 
that  the  centre  of  life  is  the  heart.  He  saw  that  all  efforts 
of  statesmanship  to  alter  the  conditions  of  existence  must  be 
fruitless,  or,  at  any  rate,  that  the  harvest  must  be  in  the  far 
distant  future  of  humanity,  while  the  heart  of  man  remains 
unchanged.  He  suspected  the  mere  respectability  which  sat- 
isfies so  many  reformers.  Even  virtue  seemed  to  him  second- 
rate  and  perilous.  He  was  not  satisfied  with  abstention  from 
sin,  or  with  the  change  from  slum  to  model  lodging-house. 
He  held  that  no  man  is  safe,  no  man  is  at  the  top  of  his  being, 
no  man  is  fully  conscious  of  life's  tremendous  greatness  until 
the  heart  is  definitely  and  rejoicingly  given  to  God.  He  was 
like  St.  Augustine,  like  Coleridge,  and  all  the  supreme  saints 
of  the  world  in  this  insistence  upon  the  necessity  for  a  cleansed 
heart  and  a  will  devoted  to  the  glory  of  God;  he  was  different 
from  them  all  in  believing  that  this  message  must  be  shouted. 


TRIBUTES  263 

dinned,  trumpeted,  and  drummed  into  the  ears  of  the  world 
before  mankind  can  awaken  to  its  truth. 

"  He  made  a  tremendous  demand.  Towards  the  end  of  his 
life  he  sometimes  wondered,  very  sadly  and  pitifully,  whether 
he  had  not  asked  too  much  of  his  followers.  I  think,  to  men- 
tion only  one  particular,  that  he  was  wavering  as  to  his  ban 
upon  tobacco.  He  was  so  certain  of  the  happiness  and  joy 
which  come  from  Salvation,  that  he  had  no  patience  with  the 
trivial  weaknesses  of  human  flesh,  which  do  not  really  mat- 
ter. Let  us  remember  that  he  had  seen  thousands  of  men  and 
women  all  over  the  world  literally  transformed  by  his  method 
from  the  most  miserable  animals  into  radiant  and  intelligent 
creatures  conscious  of  immortality  and  filled  with  the  spirit 
of  unselfish  devotion  to  humanity.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at 
that  The  General  of  this  enormous  Army  should  scarcely 
doubt  the  wisdom  of  his  first  terms  of  service? 

"  But  towards  the  end  he  suffered  greatly  in  his  own  per- 
sonal life,  and  suffering  loosens  the  rigidity  of  the  mind. 
Those  of  his  own  household  broke  away  from  him,  the  dearest 
of  his  children  died,  trusted  Officers  forsook  him,  some  of  those 
whose  sins  he  had  forgiven  again  and  again  deserted  his  Flag, 
and  whispered  scandal  and  tittle-tattle  into  the  ears  of  de- 
graded journalism.  He  was  attacked,  vilified,  and  denounced 
by  the  vilest  of  men  in  the  vilest  of  manners.  Sometimes, 
sitting  alone  by  himself,  blind  and  powerless,  very  battleworn 
and  sad,  this  old  man  at  the  end  of  his  life  must  have  suf- 
fered in  the  solitude  of  his  soul  a  grief  almost  intolerable. 
But  he  became  more  human  and  more  lovable  in  these  last 
years  of  distress. 

"We  are  apt  to  think  that  very  remarkable  men  who  have 
risen  through  opposition  and  difficulty  to  places  of  preemi- 
nence, must  sometimes  look  back  upon  the  past  and  indulge 
themselves  in  feelings  of  self-congratulation.  It  is  not  often 
true.  A  well-known  millionaire  told  me  that  the  happiest 
moment  in  his  life  was  that  when  he  ran  as  a  little  boy  bare- 
headed through  the  rain  into  his  mother's  cottage  carrying 
to  her  in  a  tight-clenched  fist  his  first  week's  wage — a  six- 
penny bit.  Mr.  Lloyd  George  told  me  that  he  never  looks 
back,  never  allows  himself  to  dream  of  his  romantic  life.  *  I 
haven't  time,'  he  said ;  *  the  present  is  too  obsessing,  the  fight 
is  too  hard  and  insistent.'  Mr.  Chamberlain  in  the  early  days 
of  Tariff  Reform,  told  me  much  the  same  thing.  Perhaps 
we  may  say  that  men  of  action  never  look  back.     And  so  it 


264i  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

was  with  General  Booth.  He  might  well  have  rested  during 
these  last  few  years  in  a  large  and  grateful  peace,  counting 
his  victories,  measuring  his  achievement,  and  comparing  the 
pulpit  in  Nottingham  or  the  first  wind-battered  tent  in  East 
London  with  this  innumerable  Army  of  Salvation  which  all 
over  the  world  has  saved  thousands  of  human  beings  from 
destruction.  Sometimes  smaller  men  are  able  to  save  a  fam- 
ily from  disgrace,  or  to  rescue  a  friend  from  some  hideous 
calamity,  or  to  make  a  crippled  child  happy  for  a  week  or 
two,  and  the  feelings  created  by  these  actions  are  full  of 
happiness  and  delight.  But  this  old,  rough-tongued,  weather- 
beaten,  and  heart-tortured  prophet,  who  had  saved  not  tens^ 
but  thousands,  who  could  see  with  his  own  eyes  in  almost: 
every  country  of  the  world  thousands  of  little  girls  rescued- 
from  defamation,  thousands  of  women  rescued  from  the  sink, 
of  horrid  vice,  thousands  of  men  new-born  from  lives  of 
unimaginable  crime  and  iniquity,  thousands  of  homes  once 
dreary  with  squalor  and  savagery  now  happy  and  full  of 
purest  joy;  nay,  who  could  see,  as  I  have  seen  in  India, 
whole  tribes  of  criminal  races,  numbering  millions,  and  once 
the  despair  of  the  Indian  Government,  living  happy,  contented, 
and  industrial  lives  under  the  Flag  of  The  Salvation  Army — 
he  who  could  see  all  this,  and  who  could  justly  say,  *  But  for 
me  these  things  had  never  been,'  was  not  happy  and  was  not 
satisfied.  He  ached  and  groaned  to  save  all  such  as  are  sor- 
rowful. 

"In  the  last  letter  he  ever  wrote  to  me,  a  letter  that  broke 
off  pitifully,  because  of  his  blindness,  from  the  big,  bold, 
challenging  handwriting,  and  became  a  dictated  typewritten 
letter,  occurred  the  words,  *  I  am  distressed.'  He  was  chiefly 
distressed  by  the  over-devotion  most  of  us  pay  to  politics  and 
philosophy,  by  the  struggle  for  wages,  by  the  clash  between 
master  and  man,  by  the  frivolity  of  the  rich,  the  stupor  of 
the  poor,  by  the  blindness  of  the  whole  world  to  the  necessity 
for  the  cleansed  heart.  He  did  not  want  to  establish  a  Sal- 
vation Army,  but  to  save  the  whole  world.  He  did  not  want 
to  be  acclaimed  by  many  nations,  but  to  see  suffering  and 
poverty  and  squalor  clean  banished  from  the  earth.  And  he 
believed  that  with  the  power  of  the  State  at  his  back,  and 
with  the  wealth  now  squandered  in  a  hundred  abortive  direc- 
tions in  his  hands,  he  could  have  given  us  a  glad  and  un- 
ashamed England  even  in  a  few  years.  He  knew  this  and 
believed  it  with  all  his  heart.    And  he  held  that  his  dictator- 


TRIBUTES  265 

ship  would  have  hurt  no  just  man.  He  suffered  because  pov- 
erty continues  and  thousands  are  still  unhappy.  For  such 
men  this  world  can  never  suffice.     They  create  eternity. 

"  Others  may  criticise  him.  And  no  man  ever  lived,  I 
suppose,  easier  for  every  little  creature  crawling  about  the 
earth  in  self-satisfied  futility  to  criticise  and  ridicule.  For 
myself,  I  can  do  nothing  but  admire,  revere,  honour,  and  love 
this  extraordinary  old  realist,  who  saved  so  many  thousands 
of  human  beings  from  utmost  misery;  who  aroused  all  the 
Churches  of  the  Christian  religion  throughout  the  world;  who 
communicated  indirectly  to  politics  a  spirit  of  reality  which 
every  year  grows  more  potent  for  social  good;  who  was  so 
tender  and  affectionate  and  cordial,  and  who  felt  for  suf- 
fering and  sorrow  and  unhappiness  wherever  he  found  it 
with  a  heart  entirely  selfless  and  absolutely  pure. 

"Even  if  The  Salvation  Army  disappeared  from  every  land 
where  it  is  now  at  work — and,  though  it  will  not  disappear, 
I  anticipate  during  the  next  ten  years  many  changes  in  its 
organisation — to  the  end  of  time  the  spirit  of  William  Booth 
will  be  part  of  our  religious  progress.  We  cannot  unthink 
ourselves  out  of  his  realism,  out  of  his  boundless  pity,  out 
of  his  consuming  earnestness.  He  has  taught  us  all  to  know 
that  the  very  bad  man  can  be  changed  into  the  very  good 
man,  and  he  has  brought  us  back,  albeit  by  a  violent  method, 
to  the  first  simple  and  absolute  principles  of  the  only  faith 
which  purifies  and  exalts  humanity. 

"When  the  dust  has  blown  away,  we  shall  see  him  as 
perhaps  the  greatest  of  our  time." 

The  Post  of  Berlin 

"What  he  aimed  at,  for  the  solution  of  the  Social  ques- 
tion and  the  uplifting  of  the  lowest  classes  of  people  by  their 
own  works,  assures  for  him  the  respect  of  the  entire  civilised 
world." 

Berlin  Local  Gazette 

"In  the  person  of  General  Booth  was  embodied  one  part 
of  the  Social  question,  and,  if  any  man  succeeded  in  bringing 
any  part  of  it  even  nearer  to  a  solution  one  must  say  it  was 
William    Booth. 

"His  plainness  as  a  man,  his  genial  gift  as  an  organiser, 
his  burning  zeal,  his  self-sacrificing  devotion  to  his  aim,  pre- 
pared and  levelled  the  road  for  him,  and  no  man,  friend  or 


^66  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

foe,  will  withhold  from  him  their  tribute  of  high  respect  as 
he  lies  on  his  bed  of  death." 

The  Morning  Post  of  Berlin 

"  General  Booth,  the  ancient  blind  man,  always  kept  his 
glad  heart.  He  was  able  to  point  his  opponents,  who  brought 
up  their  theoretical  maxims  against  him  (and  who  latterly 
became  ever  fewer)    to  his  practical  work." 

The  Berlin  Evening  Paper 

"  There  has  hardly  ever  been  a  General  who  in  an  almost 
unbroken  career  of  victory  subdued  so  many  men  and  con- 
quered so  many  countries  as  William  Booth.  His  person 
I  gained  the  high  respect  of  his  contemporaries  through  his 
long,  priestly  life,  and  he  will  ever  remain  an  example  of 
how  much,  even  in  a  time  of  confusion  and  division,  one 
man  can  do  who  knows  what  he  wants,  and  keeps  a  clear 
conscience." 

Berlin   Midday   Paper 

"  In  General  Booth  we  have,  undoubtedly,  lost  one  of  the 
most  successful  organisers  of  the  day." 

Berlin  Day  Paper  (Tageblatt) 
"Whoever  has  seen  and  heard  Booth  in  a  huge  Meeting 
in  Circus  Busch  will  never  forget  him — the  snow-white, 
flowing  beard  and  the  great,  upright  figure  in  the  blue  uni- 
form, with  the  red-figured  jersey,  the  furrowed  face  of  typ- 
ical English  character,  and  the  finely  mobile  orator's  mouth, 
with  the  searching  eyes  under  the  noble  forehead,  and  the 
prominent  nose  that  gave  him  almost  the  aspect  of  an  eagle." 

German  Watchman 
"With  that   constant  will   power  which  sprang  from  deep 
and   upright   conviction,   and   with   a   faculty   for   organisation 
which   won   hearty   recognition    from   all    who   knew   him,   he 
was  able  to  do  such  great  things." 

National  Gazette^  Berlin 
"  His  unselfishness  and  his  zealous  devotion  to  his  creation 
^(The  Army)    was  beyond  all  question." 

Berlin  Exchange  Courier 
"  Whoever   saw   and   heard   him   knows   that   he   remained, 


TRIBUTES  ^67 

after  all,  the  simple,  unassuming,  humble  man.  The  secret 
of  this  personality  was  the  embodiment  of  an  unshakable 
religious  devotion.  It  rang  out  in  his  burning,  earnest  words, 
it  breathed  in  the  deep  heartfelt  prayers  in  his  Meetings,  it 
expressed  itself  in  wondrous  deeds  of  love,  which  ignored 
difficulties  and  shrank  from  no  sacrifice.  This  made  of  him 
the  organising  genius  who  led  the  world-wide  Salvation  Army, 
with  all  its  higher  and  lower  departments,  with  strength  and 
security.  William  Booth  was  as  its  Founder  and  General 
perhaps  the  most  popular  man  of  our  day." 

Neckar- Journal  of  Heilsbron 

"And  so  General  Booth,  who  has  now  died  at  eighty-three, 
risen  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  the  murdering 
industry  period.  His  name  is  graven  in  brass  in  the  social 
history   of  the  nineteenth   century. 

"He  was  a  man  through  whose  soul  the  great  breath  of 
brotherly  love  and  devotion  moved,  and,  therefore,  his  ex- 
ample will  never  be  forgotten." 

The  Baden  Press  of  Carlsruhe 

"The  Salvation  Army  is  to-day  the  mightiest  free  Organ- 
isation of  Social  help  in  the  world,  and  the  man  who  made 
it  was  once  a  street  missionary,  despised,  and  without  influ- 
ence, whom  part  of  the  despairing  mass  of  the  East  of  Lon- 
don threw  stones  at,  whilst  another  part,  with  alcohol-fevered 
eyes,  hung  on  his  lips.  *If  ye  have  faith  like  a  grain  of 
mustard  seed ! '  " 

The  General  Gazette  of  Erfurt 

"  In  General  Booth,  one  has  closed  his  eyes  who  was  able 
to  make  a  visible  reality  of  the  faith  that  can  remove  moun- 
tains.   The  Bonaparte  of  free  Social  help  has  died." 

The  Cologne  Times 

"  One  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  mankind  has  passed 
away,  and  as  success  is  the  greatest  joy,  also  one  of  the  hap- 
piest of  men.  The  Salvation  Army  is  a  good,  Christian 
undertaking,  and  William  Booth  was  one  of  the  noblest  Chris- 
tians whose  name  history  can  record." 

Hanover  Courier 

"  Booth  was  the  born  orator  of  the  people.    He  possessed 


^68  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

above  all  the  rare  gift  of  keeping  always  to  the  level  of  his 
hearers,  and  so  to  speak  about  the  highest  themes  that  the 
wayfaring  man  understood  him." 

Hamburg  Strangers  Paper 

"To  the  last  he  was  the  living,  energising  centre  of  The 
Army,  and  to  the  last  breath  in  the  truest  sense  its  General." 

MuNCHEN  Latest  News 

"With  the  decease  of  General  Booth,  mankind  has  to 
mourn  the  loss  of  a  willing,  self-sacrificing  benefactor,  a 
noble  philanthropist  of  the  most  distinguished  purpose." 

The  Kingdom's  Messenger  of  Berlin 

"What  he  accomplished  in  the  fighting  of  drunkenness  or 
other  evils  is  too  well  known  to  need  description.  Taken  all 
in  all,  whatever  any  one  may  have  to  say  about  any  details 
of  The  Army's  methods,  one  must  agree  with  The  Daily 
Chronicle  that  the  loss  of  General  Booth  is  a  heavy  blow, 
and  the  whole  world  will  unite  with  us  in  applauding  such  a 
life  of  devotion  to  a  great  end." 

The  Cross  Gazette  of  Berlin 

"It  was  seen  that  he  was  not  merely  a  preacher  of  re- 
pentance, but  a  real  shepherd  of  his  sheep,  who  had  an  open 
heart,  and  a  good  understanding  for  all  in  need." 

German  News  of  Berlin 

"  He  was  no  quack,  no  charlatan,  and  Carlyle,  had  he  known 
him,  would  have  certainly  put  him  into  his  list  of  heroes  as 
priest  and  prophet.  It  is  great,  what  The  Army  has  done  in 
fighting  manifold  human  miseries,  such  as  drunkenness.  We 
have  often  known  learned  men  and  politicians  who  went 
over  the  sea  scoffers  at  it  come  back  its  admirers." 

Markish  People's  Paper  of  Barmen 

"Our  opposition  on  principle  does  not  prevent  our  acknowl- 
edging that  The  Army  has  done  much  good  to  the  poorest 
of  the  poor." 

German  Daily  Paper  of  Berlin 
"With  the  greatest  pity  he  combined  the  most  iron  disci- 


TRIBUTES  ^69 

pline,   and  sacrificed  to   the   happiness  of   all   every   personal 
enjoyment." 

Germania  of  Berlin 

"  But  the  light  that  always  led  him  out  of  the  deepest  dark- 
ness to  the  day  was  his  sympathy  for  his  brethren,  whose 
misery  in  the  East  End  of  London  so  deeply  laid  hold  of 
him." 

Daily  Look-Round  of  Berlin 

"  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  fact  about  him  was  that 
with  all  his  gigantic  plans  he  never  lost  himself  in  phantasy, 
but  always  knew  how  to  keep  himself  down  to  the  practical." 

Strassburg  Post 

"Hard  upon  himself,  he  exercised  the  same  severity  upon 
others,  from  the  highest  of  his  Officers  to  the  least  in  his 
Army." 

ScHWALiSH  Mercury  of  Stuttgart 

"He  made  his  Army  out  of  the  soil  of  London's  misery- 
quarter,  and  its  present  is  the  work  of  his  unwearyable  de- 
votion, the  energy  sustained  by  the  fire  of  his  zeal  for  his 
idea." 

MuHLHAus  Daily 

"His  personality  grew  out  of  the  old  Puritan  spirit." 

Elbing  Latest  News 

"  He  is  the  model  of  a  successful  business  man.  But  he 
is  a  business  man  who  never  works  for  himself,  only  for 
others.  So  wrote  one  of  the  man  whom  death  has  now  taken 
from  what  was  the  creation  of  his  life.  In  him  has  passed 
away  one  of  the  characteristic  figures  of  the  century's  tend- 
ency. His  many-sidedness,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  had  no 
equal.  Bringer  of  Salvation — social  politician — wholesale 
business  man — are  only  three  comparisons  which  cannot  by 
far  exhaust  the  description  of  the  phenomenon  Booth.  If 
ever  the  word  can  rightly  be  used  of  any  one,  then  of  Wil- 
liam Booth  it  can  be  said  he  was  a  benefactor  of  mankind." 

Altona  News 

"  Modern  time  has  few  men  to  show  whose  spirit  had  any 
such  world-embracing  might,  and  who,  out  of  so  unlikely  a 


270  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

beginning,  knew  how  to  raise  up  so  gigantic  a  work  as 
compels  us  to  be  filled,  if  not  with  love  to  him,  at  least  with 
the  greatest  respect   for  his  honourable  intentions." 

VoGTLAND  Gazette  Plauen 

"These  were  the  innermost  feelings  of  his  whole  life  which 
drove  him  to  his  marvellous  life's  work — religious  zeal  and 
sympathy." 

Frankfurt  Gazette 

"  William  Booth  had  a  mighty  will,  and  he  strove  on  for 
tens  of  years  from  promise  to  fulfilment." 

Augsburg  Evening  Gazette 

"His  brilliant  talent  for  organisation,  and  his  ability  al- 
ways to  strike  the  right  note,  which  would  take  with  the 
masses,  were  the  most  outstanding  specialities  of  the  de- 
ceased." 

Rhein-Westphalian  Gazette 

"Here  is  a  work  done  by  an  extraordinarily  organising 
genius  so  great  and  such  a  model,  socially  speaking,  as  to  fill 
even  the  opponents  of  the  old  philanthropist  with  respect." 

Journal  des  Debats,  Paris 

"Never,  perhaps,  has  a  man  been  the  creator  of  such  Social 
Work  as  this  one  who  has  died  after  having  passed  fifty  years 
running  all  over  the  world  in  search  of  the  miserable  ones 
who  had  no  hope." 

Gaulois,  Paris 

"His  life  may  be  thus  summarised.  He  brought  back  to 
God  and  to  morality  many  souls  who  had  gone  to  material- 
ism and  vice.  He  founded  pretty  well  everywhere  750 
Refuges  for  the  unfortunate;  he  found  work  for  those  who 
had  none;  he  despised  human  respect  in  order  to  do  good." 

The  Little  Republican,  Paris 

"It  is  a  very  exalted  moral  figure  which  has  disappeared 
from  this  world,  as  well  as  even  more  than  a  person  singu- 
larly famous.  If  he  became  a  preacher,  he  was  certainly 
born  an  apostle.  He  had  the  genius  of  conversion,  and 
wanted  no  other  career  here  below.  There  is  not  a  city  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  world  where  his  Army  has  not  snatched,  by 


COMMANDER   MISS    BOOTH 
In  Chartfe  of  the  Salvation  Army  Work  in  U,  S,  A, 


TRIBUTES  371 

hundreds,  men   from  drunkenness  and  women   from  prostitu- 
tion." 

The  Republic,  Paris 

"An  indefatigable  organiser,  ceaselessly  working  for  the 
success  of  his  effort,  he  created  besides  numerous  groups  of 
Salvationists,  night  Refuges,  popular  Restaurants,  Work- 
places, journals,  and  reviews." 

The  Intransigent,  Paris 

"  In  General  Booth  passes  away  a  truly  world-personage, 
whose  influence  extended  to  the  two  hemispheres,  and,  per- 
haps,  as  much   amongst  the   savage  as  the   civilised. 

"  He  discovered  his  real  path,  and  founded  The  Salvation 
Army,  which  has  recruited  millions  of  faithful  ones  in  the 
most  diverse  nations — even  in  our  sceptical  France." 

The  Voltaire,  Paris 

"  We  have  not  to  judge  his  religious  efforts,  nor  even  his 
methods,  which  often  seemed  to  us  from  some  aspects  so 
very  absurd. 

"  But  one  must  recognise  that  The  Army  created  Hospi- 
tals, Retreats,  Refuges  without  number  in  all  countries  of  the 
world,  including  France,  and  that  the  devotion  of  its  Sol- 
diers has  been  unbounded.  From  the  social  point  of  view 
General   Booth  was  certainly   a  benefactor." 

Gil   Blas,  Paris 

"  Struck  by  the  misery  which  some  quarters  of  London 
displayed  to  him,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  evangelising  these 
masses,  and  to  bring  them  along  with  the  Christian  light, 
physical   comfort,   and  moral   union. 

"  An  intelligent  work,  humane  in  its  principles,  beautiful 
in  its  aspirations,  it  merits  that  we  salute  with  respect  the 
remains  of  him  who  undertook  it  with  all  his  disinterested- 
ness and  all  his  heart." 

General  Business  Paper  of  Amsterdam 

"  The  world  has  to  mourn  the  death  of  one  of  the  noblest 
men  who  ever  lived,  of  a  man  who  undiscouraged  by  scorn, 
contempt,  and  continual  mockery,  kept  on  working  accord- 
ing to  his  convictions,  conscious  that  he  had  a  great  vocation 


n2  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

to  fulfil,  seeking  the  welfare  of  his  fellows  of  no  matter 
what  race  or  class  they  might  belong  to. 

"With  his  departure  will  be  mourned  a  man  who  accom- 
plished great  things,  and  of  whom  his  most  ardent  opponents 
have  to  admit  that  he  by  his  example  and  by  his  incompar- 
able power  to  work,  and  his  mighty  talent  for  organisation, 
has  been  able  to  be  a  blessing  to  many. 

"  William  Booth  has  gone  to  his  eternal  rest.  He  has  not 
lived  and  worked  in  vain.  His  name  does  not  belong  only 
to  his  Fatherland,  but  to  the  whole  world,  for  he  was  a  ben- 
efactor to  every  land,  to  all  humanity,  li  any  name  shall 
continue  to  live,  it  is  his." 

The  People,  Amsterdam 

"A  man  has  died  whose  figure,  owing  to  his  career,  his 
self-chosen  sphere  of  labour,  his  manifested  power  and  tal- 
ent, and  through  his  success,  too,  has  become  a  world-figure, 
who  may  be  variously  judged,  but  awakened  sympathy  every- 
where,  and   scarcely   anywhere   enmity. 

"  Booth  was  the  man  for  the  outcasts  of  society,  for  the 
poorest  and  most  miserable,  for  those  who  had  no  strength 
left,  and  were  entirely  unarmed  in  the  fight  for  existence." 

The  Fatherland,  Amsterdam 

"Yes,  truly  he  was  a  great  idealist.  That  was  why  he 
could  not  be  content  to  remain  an  ordinary  minister.  His 
ideal  went  beyond  the  circle  of  his  communion.  He  wanted 
to  overcome  the  world  by  love  and  Divine  worship,  and  work 
for  all  mankind.  And  we  see  the  results  everywhere  just  as 
in  this  country,  so  at  the  other  side  of  the  world. 

The  Amsterdammer 

"The  saving  of  souls  was  the  great,  all-consuming  passion 
of  the  Founder  of  The  Salvation  Army.  To  satisfy  this 
heart-moving  desire  he  began  his  wide-stretched  Organisa- 
tion, and,  notwithstanding  the  great  Social  Work,  which  rep- 
resented a  great  amount  of  practical  social  betterment,  he 
continued  in  every  direction  in  The  Army  only  to  honour  the 
opportunity  it  gave  him  to  win  souls  for  God  and  The  Army." 

The  Evening  Courier,  of  Milan 
"When  he  stepped  to  the  front  of  the  platform,  he  seemed 


TRIBUTES  273 

transfigured.  His  rapid  and  incisive  words  poured  from  his 
mouth  with  unrestrained  eloquence. 

" '  All  the  foundation  of  all  we  say/  he  cried,  *  are  the 
eternal  truths  of  the  Gospel,  indestructible  as  the  pillars  of 
the  throne  of  God.' 

"  The  Apostle  spoke  out.  In  that  body,  worn  with  age, 
was  born  again  something  of  that  unconquerable  faith  which 
had  made  Booth  as  a  lad  cry  out  seventy  years  before,  in  a 
prophetic  transport,  '  The  trumpet  has  sounded  the  signal  for 
the  fight.  Your  General  assures  you  of  success  and  a  glori- 
ous reward.  Your  crown  is  ready.  Why  do  you  wait  and 
hesitate   so  ?    Forward,   forward,    forward  1 ' 

"  Booth  was  not  one  to  be  intimidated.  He  tolerated  in- 
sults with  Olympic  patience.  He  just  wiped  off  the  dirt  his 
persecutors  threw  at  him,  and  smilingly  invited  them  to  fol- 
low him.  Thus,  about  seventy  years  of  age,  he  began  the 
beneficent  career  which  accomplished  a  truly  marvellous  work 
of  philanthropy  and  love,  and  which  gained  for  him  not  only 
the  esteem  and  veneration  of  the  poor  of  East  London,  and 
of  the  choicest  citizens,  but  the  personal  friendship  of  his 
Sovereign." 

The  Age,  of  Milan 

"The  death  of  Booth  causes  consternation  through  all  Eng- 
land, because  through  the  vast  Organisation,  The  Salvation 
Army,  he  was  so  well  known  for  his  works  of  humanity  and 
beneficence. 

"  Indeed,  he  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  men  in  the 
world.  The  great  humane  work  he  founded  during  the 
seventy  years  of  his  apostolate  is  destined  to  remain  as  one 
of  the  highest  expressions  of  modern  philanthropy  and  char- 
ity. The  Army  is  an  immense  federation  of  hearts  and  con- 
sciences which  was  created,  guided,  and  led  to  triumph  by 
Mr.    Booth." 

The  Press,  of  Turin 

"The  Founder  and  General  of  The  Salvation  Army,  dead 
at  eighty-three  years  of  age,  after  seventy  years  of  unweary- 
able  apostolate,  was  one  of  the  purest  and  most  popular  heroes 
of  modern  Christianity.  He  was  not  content  to  preach  the 
Gospel  only  from  the  parchment — a  mystic  and  a  poet,  yet 
a  practical  man  of  forethought,  he  was  able,  out  of  nothing, 
to  create  a  Society  of  militant  propagandists  for  the  social 


274  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

redemption  of  the  lost  crowds,  and  to  fight  against  idleness, 
alcoholism,   and  evil  habits." 

The  Halfpenny  Paper 

"  The  message  that  General  Booth  is  dead  will  cause  sor- 
row not  only  in  his  country  or  in  Europe,  but  all  over  the 
world.  Now,  at  his  death,  the  whole  world  knows  his  name, 
and  thousands   follow  in  his   footsteps." 

Social  Demokrat 

"  No  free  religious  movement  has  ever  become  so  great  or 
laid  so  strong  a  hold  upon  all  classes  of  society. 

"  General  Booth  will  be  named  in  history  as  one  of  the 
strongest  and  most  remarkable  personages  that  ever  lived. 
He  was  a  product  of  society,  such  as  it  was,  and  the  Move- 
ment he  raised  was  born  of  that  state  of  things,  firstly  as  a 
reconciler,  and  then  as  a  protest. 

"  To  accomplish  such  a  work  as  has  been  done  cannot  be 
without   result   on  the   future   shaping   of   society." 

The  Morning 

"To-day  The  Salvation  Army  stands  as  one  of  the  might- 
iest and  most  remarkable  religious  organisations  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen." 

JoNKOPiNG  Post 

"  One  of  our  times,  and  perhaps  all  times,  greatest  and 
most  remarkable  personages.  The  Salvation  Army's  Founder 
and  General,  William  Booth,  died  in  London  yesterday  even- 
ing. Behind  him  lies  a  path  such  as  few  have  ever  travelled. 
Before  him  lies  the  rest  with  his  Lord,  in  whose  service  he 
laboured   almost  all  his  long  life." 

Swedish  Morning  Standard 
"The  world  has  lost  one  of  its  noblest  and  most  remark- 
able men.    A   great   benefactor  of   mankind   has   been   called 
home.     Our  times'  greatest  spiritual   General  has  died  at  his 
honourable  post.     Peace  to   his  brave   and   worthy  memory." 

Norkoping  News 

"Few  of  the  most  noted  men  of  the  day  did  anything  like 
as  much  work  as  The  General.  He  was  the  leading  spirit 
in  all  this  world-Organisation's  least  details.  He  spent  most 
of  his  time  travelling  all  round  the  world." 


TRIBUTES  «75 

Gothenburg's  Post 

"Wherever  in  the  world  men's  hearts  beat  for  men's  sor- 
rows and  misery,  the  message  of  General  Booth's  death  will 
be  received  with  sadness  and  mourning.  For  with  General 
Booth  departed  the  greatest  modern  apostle  of  Christianity, 
charity,  and  mercy — a  sort  of  Saviour  up  to  the  level  of  mod- 
ern machinery  and  wholesale  industrial  city  life,  and  one  of 
the  most   discussed   and   remarkable   of  modern   personages." 

Gothenburg's  Evening 
"William  Booth's  life  was  one  in  storm  and  battle — a  great 
man's  life,  the  life  of  an  unwearied  fighter.  Now  the  whole 
world  bows  before  the  great  man  and  the  great  life  which 
will  live  through  all  time,  and  go  on  bringing  help  to  the 
suffering." 

Smaland's  Post 

"  Booth's  blessed  and  energetic  all-world-embracing  ef- 
forts have,  during  the  last  decades,  had  general  recognition, 
and  his  native  land  has  in  various  ways  testified  its  respect 
for  what  he  has  done  in  the  service  of  mercy." 

Upsala  News 
"William  Booth's  sleepless  energy  and  restless  activity  suc- 
ceeded in  forcing  his  work's  recognition,  even  where  people 
did  not  approve  his  methods,  and  many  who  before  despised 
him  will,  now  that  he  is  gone,  admit  that  he  has  done  more 
for  his  fellows  than  many  whose  names  have  gone  down  to 
posterity." 

Malmo  S.S.  Daily 

"It  is  one  of  the  day's  strongest  personages  who  is  gone 
— a  man  with  the  utmost  wealth  of  energy  and  power.  One 
could  hardly  believe  he  belonged  to  our  times,  and  yet  he  had 
all  the  qualities  of  our  nervous  and  restless  epoch.  There 
was  much  in  him  to  remind  of  the  old  prophets — the  lonely 
man  of  God  fighting  with  the  mighty  and  the  wrong.  No- 
body can  dispute  that  The  Army  did  much  good." 

Stockholm  Morning 
"It  lay  in  the  Leader's   extraordinary   foresight   that   The 
Army  had  a  great  and  blessed  work  to  fulfil  to  save  the  deep- 
est sunken  in  the  community." 


Chapter  XXVI 

ORGANISATION 

The  high  reputation  which  The  General  gained  as  an  Or- 
ganiser seems  to  make  it  desirable  to  explain,  as  fully  as 
we  can,  what  he  aimed  at,  and  by  what  means  he  made 
The  Army  the  remarkable  combination  it  has  become.  We 
have,  happily,  in  several  of  our  books  his  own  dissertations 
on  the  subject,  for  he  always  sought  to  make  clear  to  all 
who  should  follow  him,  especially  in  this  respect,  the  rea- 
(sons  for  his  plans.  In  his  introduction  to  Orders  and 
^Regulations  for  Staff  Officers,  he  writes  as  follows: — 

"  Some  of  the  Converts  resided  in  other  parts  of  London, 
and  they  soon  commenced  themselves  to  hold  Meetings  after- 
wards, and  to  win  souls  in  their  localities.  I  was  entreated 
to  care  for  these  also.  The  Christian  Churches,  even  when 
they  were  willing  to  receive  these  Converts,  were  as  a  result 
generally  so  much  occupied  with  the  maintenance  of  their 
own  existence,  or  so  lukewarm  in  coping  with  the  necessities 
of  the  poor  people,  as  to  be  unequal  to  the  task  of  caring 
for  them.  I  soon  found  that  the  majority  of  those  who  joined 
the  Churches  either  relapsed  again  into  open  backsliding,  or 
became  half-hearted  professors.  I  was,  therefore,  driven  to 
select  men  and  women  who  I  knew  to  be  lovers  of  souls,  and 
to  be  living  holy  lives,  for  the  purpose  of  caring  for  these 
new  Converts.  These  helpers  I  afterwards  directed  to  hold 
Meetings  in  the  streets  and  in  cottages,  and  then  in  Halls 
and  other  Meeting  Places.  The  Lord  was  with  them  in  great 
power,  and  hundreds  of  wicked  and  godless  people  were  con- 
verted and  united  together  in  separate  societies. 

"  These  operations  were,  in  course  of  time,  extended  to 
the  Provinces,  where  my  late  beloved  wife,  who  was  my  un- 
failing helper  and  companion  in  this  work  until  God  took 
her  from  me,  preached  with  much  acceptance  and  remark- 
able results.    It  soon  became  difficult,  and  at  length  impossi- 

276 


ORGANISATION  277 

ble,  for  me  to  express  my  wishes  and  give  my  instructions  to 
my  helpers  by  word  of  mouth,  and  consequently  I  had  to  issue 
them  in  the  form  of  correspondence.  This  I  also  soon  found 
to  be  a  task  beyond  my  ability.  And  yet,  if  unity  and  har- 
mony were  to  be  preserved  among  the  people  God  had  given 
me,  and  if  the  work  were  to  be  carried  on  successfully,  it 
was  evident  that  they  must  know  my  wishes.  I  was,  there- 
fore, compelled  to  print  such  Directions  and  Rules  as  I 
deemed  to  be  necessary. 

"This  practice  has  continued  to  the  present  day,  and  been 
increased  by  reason  of  the  advance  of  the  Work  to  an  extent 
I  never  could  have  anticipated.  Some  seventeen  years  ago 
I  issued  a  volume  of  Orders  and  Regulations  for  Field  Offi- 
cers. More  than  once  since  then  this  book  has  been  enlarged, 
and  revised  to  date,  and,  although  some  further  developments 
have  been  made  since  that  time,  that  volume  may  be  taken 
as  the  expression,  in  general  terms,  of  my  present  convic- 
tions of  what  a  Field  Officer  of  The  Salvation  Army  should 
be  and  do,  and  as  such  I  commend  it  to  the  attention  of  Offi- 
cers and  Soldiers  of  every  rank  in  The  Army  throughout  the 
world. 

"  Soon  after  the  publication  of  the  Orders  and  Regulations 
for  Field  Officers,  a  volume  describing  the  duties  of  Divi- 
sional Officers  was  issued.  This  volume  has  also  been  out- 
grown, by  reason  of  continued  developments  in  the  organisa- 
tion of  the  Army  rendering  further  enlargements  necessary. 

"Meanwhile,  the  ablest  and  most  devoted  Officers  through- 
out the  world  have  been  contriving,  and,  with  the  authority 
of  Headquarters,  executing  what  have  seemed  the  wisest  and 
best  methods  for  attaining  the  objects  we  have  in  view.  It 
now  appears  to  me  not  only  desirable,  but  absolutely  neces- 
sary, that  these  usages  should  be  again  examined  and  classi- 
fied, and,  if  found  to  be  in  harmony  with  our  principles,  cor- 
rected, reduced  to  writing,  and  then,  endorsed  by  my  authority, 
published  for  the  benefit  of  The  Army  throughout  the  world, 
and  for  the  advantage  also  of  those  who  will  hereafter  be 
our  successors  in  the  responsibility  for  carrying  forward  the 
War.  The  Orders  and  Regulations  contained  in  this  volume 
are  the  result. 

"  It  was  my  intention  to  make  this  book  a  complete  Com- 
pendium of  Regulations  for  Staff  Officers  of  all  Departments 
in  all  parts  of  the  world;  but  it  became  evident  that,  owing 


278  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

to  the  multiplication  of  the  different  branches  of  our  opera- 
tions, and  the  diversity  of  the  Regulations  required  by  their 
varied  character  and  conditions,  such  a  volume  would  have 
been  swollen  to  most  inconvenient  dimensions,  and  I  there- 
fore determined  to  omit  everything  not  applying  to  the  Offi- 
cers under  the   command  of  the  British   Commissioner. 

"It  must  not  be  inferred  from  this  that  the  Staff  Officers 
employed  at  International  Headquarters,  or  of  those  engaged 
in  the  Social  Work,  do  not  rank  equally  with  those  whose 
duties  are  herein  described.  Further  Orders  and  Regulations 
required  by  them,  and  for  Staff  Officers  in  other  Territories, 
will  be  issued  from  time  to  time  as  needed.  The  Regulations 
contained  in  Part  I  of  this  volume  are  to  be  carried  out  as 
far  as  possible  in  all  Territories  and  Departments. 

"The  Regulations  herein  contained  must  not  be  regarded 
as  a  final  authority  on  the  duties  and  responsibilities  to  which 
they  refer.  Development  has  been  the  order  of  The  Army 
from  the  beginning,  and  will,  I  hope,  remain  so  to  the  end. 
Our  methods  must  of  necessity  be  always  changing  with  the 
ever  varying  character  and  circumstances  of  the  people  whom 
we  seek  to  benefit.  But  our  principles  remain  as  unchange- 
able as  the  Throne  of  Jehovah.  It  is  probable  that  in  suc- 
ceeding years  other  Orders  and  Regulations  will  be  issued  by 
the  Central  Authority  to  take  the  place  of  these  I  am  now 
publishing.  It  is  right,  and  safe,  and  necessary  that  it  should 
l)e  so.  God  will,  I  believe,  continue  to  make  known  from 
time  to  time,  to  those  who  follow  His  good  pleasure,  the  way 
in  which  the  War  should  be  carried  on,  and  The  Army  will, 
I  hope,  continue  to  receive  and  record  in  Orders  and  Regula- 
tions that  manifested  Will,  and,  by  obedience,  continue  to  go 
forward  from  victory  unto  victory! 

"I  think  I  may  truthfully  say  that  in  no  words  which  it 
has  been  my  privilege  to  write  in  the  past,  and  in  no  work 
that  it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to  undertake,  have  I  been  more 
conscious  of  the  presence  and  guidance  of  another  Spirit, 
than  in  the  preparation  of  these  Regulations.  That  Spirit 
has  been,  I  believe,  the  Spirit  of  Eternal  Light.  I  have  asked 
wisdom  of  God,  and  I  verily  believe  that  my  request  has 
been  favourably  regarded.  Of  this,  I  think,  these  Regula- 
tions will,  to  those  for  whom  they  have  been  prepared,  bear 
witness. 

"These  Regulations  are  not,  I  repeat,  intended  as  a  finality. 


ORGANISATION  879 

If  any  Staff  Officer  into  whose  hand  this  book  may  come,  or 
may  be  brought  into  knowledge  of  the  working  of  the  Regu- 
lations contained  in  it,  can  suggest  any  improvement,  let  him 
do  so.  If  he  can  show  any  plan  by  which  the  end  aimed  at 
can  be  more  simply,  or  inexpensively,  or  effectually  gained, 
either  as  regards  work,  or  men,  or  methods,  or  money,  by  all 
means  let  him  make  the  discovery  known  to  us.  God  is  in 
no  wise  confined  to  any  particular  person  for  the  revelation 
of  His  will.  It  would  be  the  vainest  of  vain  desires  were  I 
so  foolish  as  to  wish  that  it  should  be  so.  Let  Him  speak 
by  whom  He  will.  What  I  want  to  see  is  the  work  done, 
souls  saved,  and  the  world  made  to  submit  at  the  Saviour's 
feet. 

"I  cannot  conclude  without  saying  that  there  has  been 
present  with  me,  all  the  way  through  the  preparation  of  this 
book,  a  vivid  sense  of  the  utter  powerlessness  of  all  system, 
however  wisely  it  may  have  been  framed,  which  has  not  in 
the  application  of  it  that  Spirit  of  Life  who  alone  imparts 
the  vital  force  without  which  no  extensive  or  permanent  good 
can  be  effected. 

"  And  now,  on  the  completion  of  my  task,  and  at  the  mo- 
ment of  placing  it  in  the  hands  of  my  Officers,  this  conviction 
is  forced  upon  me  in  an  increasing,  I  may  almost  say,  a  pain- 
ful, degree. 

"  No  one  can  deny  that  the  religious  world  is  full  of  forms 
which  have  little  or  no  practical  influence  on  the  minds,  o^* 
hearts,  or  lives,  of  those  who  travel  the  weary  round  of  their 
performances  day  by  day.  Are  the  Regulations  that  I  am 
now  issuing  at  no  distant  date  going  to  swell  the  number  of 
these  dead  and  powerless  systems?  God  forbid  that  it  should 
be  so !  Nothing  could  be  further  from  my  contemplation 
than  such  a  result. 

"  However,  there  must  be  Regulations.  They  are  neces- 
sary. If  work  is  to  be  done  at  all,  it  must  be  done  after 
some  particular  fashion,  and  if  one  fashion  is  better  than  an- 
other— which  no  one  amongst  us  will  question — it  must  be 
the  wisest  course  to  discover  that  best  fashion,  and  to  de- 
scribe it  in  plain  language,  so  that  it  may  be  acted  upon 
throughout  our  borders  until  some  better  method  is  made 
known.  We  want  certain  things  done  in  The  Army  for  the 
Salvation  of  souls,  for  the  deliverance  of  the  world  from  sin 
and  misery,  and  for  the  glory  of  our  God;  and  the  Regula- 


280  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

tions  herein  set  forth  represent  the  best  methods  at  present 
known  either  to  me,  or  to  those  around  me,  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  these  things.  Therefore  praying  for  God's 
blessing  upon  them  I  send  them  forth  with  the  expectation 
that  the  Staff  Officers  whom  they  concern  will  render  a 
faithful,  conscientious,  and  believing  obedience  to  all  that  they 
enjoin." 

All  this  was  only  written  in  1904,  and  there  has  been 
nothing  since  materially  to  change  the  system  set  forth 
in  the  350  odd  pages  which  follow,  and  which  explain 
as  fully  as  was  necessary  how  the  plans  which  are  so 
fully  explained  in  the  volume  of  Orders  and  Regulations 
for  Field  Officers,  above  referred  to,  were  to  be  carried 
into  effect  throughout  the  whole  country. 

The  opening  chapter  of  these  Regulations  explains  the 
Organisation  as  follows : — 

"the  general  divisions  of  the  army 

"The  divisions  of  The  Army  in  the  Field  are  at  present  as 
follow : — 

"Ward,  under  the  charge  of  a   Sergeant. 

"  Corps,  under  the  charge  and  command  of  a  Field  Officer. 

"  Section,  under  the  charge  and  command  of  a  Sectional 
Officer. 

"  Division,  under  the  charge  and  command  of  a  Divisional 
Commander. 

"  Province,  under  the  charge  and  command  of  a  Provincial 
Commander. 

"  Territory,  under  the  charge  and  command  of  a  Terri- 
torial   Commissioner. 

"A  Ward  is  a  part  of  a  town  or  neighbourhood  in  which 
a  Corps  is  operating,  placed  under  the  charge  of  Local  Offi- 
cers, whose  duty  it  is  to  watch  over  the  welfare  of  the  Sol- 
diers and  Recruits  belonging  to  it. 

"A  Corps  is  that  portion  of  a  country  in  which  a  separate 
work  is  carried  on,  and  for  which  it  is  responsible.  It  may 
consist  of  a  city,  a  town,  or  a  particular  district  of  either, 
and  it  may  include  one  or  more  Societies  in  adjoining  places, 
or  it  may  consist  of  a  number  of  such  Societies  grouped  to- 
gether, in  which  case  it  is  called  a  Circle  Corps. 


ORGANISATION  281 

"  A  Section  is  a  group  of  Corps  placed  under  the  command 
of  one  or  more  Officers. 

"A  Division  consists  of  a  number  of  Corps  grouped  to- 
gether with  that  part  of  a  country  in  which  these  Corps  are 
situated. 

"A  Province  comprises  a  number  of  Divisions. 

"A  Territory  consists  of  a  Country,  or  part  of  a  Country, 
or  several  Countries  combined  together,  as  The  General  may 
decide." 

In  Orders  and  Regulations  for  his  Territorial  Commis- 
sioners, that  is,  those  v^ho  hold  the  highest  command  over 
whole  countries,  he  writes: — 

"The  higher  the  authority  with  which  Officers  are  en- 
trusted, and  the  larger  the  responsibilities  resting  upon  them, 
the  greater  is  the/  need  for  that  absolute  devotion  to  the 
principles  of  The  Army,  and  that  complete  abandonment  to 
the  purposes  of  God  which  our  Orders  and  Regulations  ex- 
press and  represent,  and  without  which  no  system,  however 
perfect,  and  no  body  of  men,  however  capable,  can  achieve 
the  great  work  He  has  called  us  to  do  in  establishing  the 
Kingdom  of  God  in  the  earth." 

One  of  the  greatest  problems  connected  with  all  organi- 
sation is  the  keeping  up  to  the  ideal  of  those  who  are  in 
danger  of  forgetting  it;  and,  therefore,  the  following  sec- 
tion will,  we  think,  be  found  especially  interesting  to  those 
who  may  ask,  How  has  it  been  done,  or  how  is  it  to  be 
done  ?  It  is  the  section  on  "  The  Development  of  Field 
Officers,"  and  reads  as  follows : — 

"The  Divisional  Officer  is  responsible  for  seeking  to  de- 
velop the  spiritual  life  of  the  F.O.'s.  No  matter  what  gifts 
or  zeal  the  Officer  may  possess,  if  he  is  not  walking  in  the 
light,  and  living  in  the  favour  of  God,  it  is  vain  to  hope  that 
he  will  be  really  successful. 

"The  D.O.  must  always,  therefore,  when  he  comes  in  con- 
tact with  Officers  under  his  command,  make  inquiries  with 
regard  to  their  spiritual  life,  leading  them  to  acknowledge 
their  faults  and  heart  conflicts,  so  that  he  may  give  suitable 
counsel  and  help. 


282  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"The  D.O.  must  regard  himself  as  responsible  to  God  for 
maintaining  the  devotion  of  the  Officers  under  him  to  the 
great  purpose  to  which  they  have  already  consecrated  their 
lives.  He  cannot  expect  to  deal  faithfully  with  an  Officer 
on  such  matters  unless  he  does  so,  and  he  must  bear  in  mind 
how  easy  it  is  to  draw  back  from  that  whole-hearted  sacri- 
fice without  which  no  Officer  can  succeed. 

"  The  D.O.  must  see  that  his  Officers  possess,  and  live  in, 
the  spirit  of  The  Army.  Without  it  their  Officership  will  be 
like  a  body  without  a  soul,  or  like  a  locomotive  without  any 
power.  The  D.O.  must  encourage  Officers  to  cry  out  to  God 
for  this,   and  must  continually  explain   its   importance. 

"The  D.O.  must  understand  that  if  Officers  under  his  com- 
mand decline  in  their  love  for  souls  and  become  careless  about 
the  progress  of  their  work,  he  will  have  failed  in  a  very 
important  part  of  his  duty.  The  D.O.  exists  for  the  purpose 
of  helping  and  saving  his  F.O.'s. 

"  The  D.O.  is  responsible  for  the  development  of  energy 
and  enterprise  in  his  Officers.  One  great  temptation  of  F.O.'s 
is  to  settle  down  and  to  be  content  with  a  formal  discharge 
of  duty,  and,  what  is  worse  still,  to  offer  all  sorts  of  excuses 
for  their  lackadaisical  Laodicean  condition.  Few  people  have 
in  themselves  sufficient  force  of  character,  human  or  Divine, 
to  keep  them  pushing  ahead  for  any  considerable  length  of 
time.  Officers  who  when  they  first  enter  the  Field  are  like 
flames  of  fire,  will,  if  not  looked  after,  get  into  ruts,  and 
content  themselves  with  holding  so  many  Meetings,  doing  so 
many  marches,  raising  the  ordinary  Corps  funds.  Meeting  the 
ordinary  expenditure,  keeping  the  ordinary  number  of  Sol- 
diers on  the  Roll,  and  doing  everything  in  the  ordinary  day, 
while  the  world,  undisturbed,  is  going  forward  at  express 
speed  to  Hell.  The  D.O.  should  endeavour  to  prevent  this 
settling  down  on  the  part  of  his  Officers  by  continually  stir- 
ring up  their  minds  with  inducements  to  labour  and  encour- 
agements to  renewed  activity  and  increased  sacrifice  for  the 
Salvation  of  the  world. 

"  The  D.O.  is  also  responsible  for  the  improvement  of  the 
gifts  of  his  Officers  and  of  their  efficiency  for  the  work  they 
have  in  hand.  He  must  not  only  show  them  wherein  they  fail, 
but  must  teach  them  how  they  may  do  better. 

"  The  D.O.  must  encourage  his  Officers.  H  they  have  gifts 
and  capacities — and  none  are  without  some — he  should  cheer 


ORGANISATION  283 

them  forward  by  acknowledging  them.  He  should  point  out 
where  they  do  well,  at  the  same  time  setting  before  them  the 
higher  positions  of  usefulness  they  may  reach  with  a  little 
application  and  perseverance.  He  may  always  remind  them 
of  Officers  who  during  the  early  part  of  their  career  have  had 
little  success,  but  who,  by  sticking  to  the  fight  have  reached  po- 
sitions of  great  usefulness.  There  are  few  Officers  who  dur- 
ing their  early  days  are  not  cast  down  and  tempted  to  think 
that  they  do  not  possess  the  gifts  necessary  to  success,  and 
that  they  have  missed  their  vocation  in  becoming  Officers. 
This  class  of  melancholy  feelings  should  be  battled  with  by  the 
D.O.  with  all  his  might,  for  if  allowed  to  run  their  course  the 
result  will  be  not  only  depression,  but  despair,  and  perhaps 
desertion. 

"  The  D.O.  should  give  particular  attention  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  ability,  energy,  and  religion  of  the  Lieutenants  in 
his  Division.  Their  position  in  a  Corps  often  makes  it  diffi- 
cult for  them  to  exercise  their  gifts  to  advantage,  and  they 
are  often  depressed  and  discouraged.  A  D.  O.  should  always 
inquire  on  his  visiting  a  Corps  having  a  Lieutenant — 

"Whether  he  is  happy  with  his  CO.  and  in  the  Work; 

"What  special  work  he  has  to  do  and  for  which  he  is 
actually  responsible. 

"  Every  Division  must  have  its  own  Officers'  Meeting,  which 
should  always  be  conducted  by  the  Divisional  Officer,  unless 
the  Provincial  Commander,  or  some  Officer  representing  Head- 
quarters be  present. 

"Every  Officer  in  the  Division  must  be  present  at,  at  least, 
one  Officers'  Meeting  in  each  month ;  and  where  it  is  possible, 
in  great  centres  Meetings  should  be  held  once  a  week.  The 
D.O.  must  be  careful  that  the  Officers'  Meetings  do  not  involve 
a  financial  burden  on  the  Officers,  and  he  must  make  such  plans 
as  will  avoid  this,  and  submit  the  same  to  the  P.C. 

"It  will  sometimes  be  found  convenient  to  pool  the  travel- 
ling expenses,  but  this  may  easily  work  unfavourably  to  the 
smaller  Corps  instead  of  in  their  favour,  and  in  such  cases  the 
D.O.  must  assist  his  F.O's  with  part  of  the  travelling  expenses 
incurred  in  attending  Officers'  Meetings  in  all  such  cases  where 
F.O's  are  drawing  the  standard  salary  or  less  for  their  support. 
Should  his  Funds  be  insufficient  to  meet  the  whole  of  the  bur- 
den in  such  cases,  he  must  apply  to  the  P.C.  for  assistance. 

"  The  Officers*  Meetings  should  always  be  held  in  a  com- 


284  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

fortable  room  of  a  size  proportionate  to  the  number  of  Officers 
present.  The  Officers  should  be  seated  directly  before  the 
leader. 

"  Only  Field  Officers  shall  be  admitted.  A  D.O.  who  wishes 
to  meet  his  Local  Officers  with  his  F.O.  may  announce  a 
Special  Meeting  for  that  purpose  at  any  time. 

"  There  shall  always  be  at  the  beginning  of  a  Meeting  some 
considerable  time  spent  in  prayer  for — 

"  The  Officers  present  and  the  Division  in  general ; 

"The  universal  Army,  its  Officers  and  Soldiers,  and 
especially  for  any  portion  of  it  that  may  be  suffering  perse- 
cution or  passing  through  trial; 

"For  wisdom  for  those  upon  whom  the  direction  of  the 
Army  lies; 

"  The  supply  of  money  and  all  else  needed  to  carry  on  the 
War. 

"The  mightier  baptisms  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  Salva- 
tion of  a  large  number  of  souls. 

"The  D.O.,  or  any  other  Officer  present,  shall  have  the  op- 
portunity, if  desired,  of  pouring  out  his  soul  in  loving  exhorta- 
tion to  his  comrades,  but  nothing  in  the  nature  of  discussion  or 
the  expression  of  opinions  on  any  orders  that  may  be  given 
must  be  permitted. 

"  The  Officer  being  most  used  of  God  at  the  time  should  be 
asked  to  urge  his  fellows  to  more  holy  living,  greater  self- 
denial,  and  increased  activity. 

"  There  shall  be  the  opportunity  for  the  publication  of  any 
great  blessing  that  may  have  been  obtained,  or  any  remarkable 
work  of  grace  that  may  have  been  realised  in  the  souls  of  the 
Officers  present,  or  in  their  Corps,  or  for  the  description  of  any 
other  wonderful  work  of  God  that  may  have  been  wrought 
during  the  week  in  the  Division.  When  at  all  possible,  every 
Officer  present  should  pray  aloud  during  the  Meeting. 

"  There  should  occasionally  be  a  time  set  apart  for  the  con- 
fession of  unfaithfulness  and  for  the  open  reconsecration  to 
God  and  the  War  on  the  part  of  any  Officer. 

"There  should  be  a  general  rededication  of  all  present  to 
the  War  at  every  Meeting. 

"  There  must  be  a  time  set  apart  for  the  statement  by  the 
D.O.  of  any  event  of  general  interest  to  the  whole  Army,  or  of 
any  remarkable  occurrence  in  the  Division,  or  any  Meetings, 
Demonstrations,  or  other  services  of  importance  that  may  be 
likely  soon  to  take  place  in  the  Division  or  elsewhere. 


ORGANISATION  285 

"  There  must  be  an  opportunity  after  the  Meeting,  to  transact 
business.  It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  there  should 
always  be  time  allowed  for  personal  intercourse  between  the 
D.O.  and  the  Officers  present.  The  D.O.  should  always  an- 
nounce at  the  commencement  of  the  Meeting  that  he  will  be 
glad  to  see  any  Officer  present,  personally,  at  its  close. 

"  It  will  be  seen  what  an  enormous  power  the  D.O.  possesses 
in  this  Meeting  for  inspiring,  directing,  and  controlling  all  the 
forces  of  his  Division ;  how  every  week  he  can  spend  the  greater 
part  of  a  day,  and  as  much  more  time  as  he  likes,  in  making  his 
Officers,  who  have  the  leadership  of  The  Army  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood, think  and  feel  exactly  as  he  does.  How  solemnly 
important,  then,  must  it  be  that  the  D.O.  should  think  and  feel 
just  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  have  him  think  and  feel 
on  such  an  occasion,  and  in  the  presence  of  such  an  opportunity. 

"It  is  most  important  that  the  D.O.  should  arrange  before- 
hand, with  great  care,  such  business  as  will  have  to  be  trans- 
acted.   For  instance,  he  should  have,  among  other  things — 

"A  list  of  the  matters  requiring  attention.  He  will  save 
himself  much  trouble  and  correspondence,  much  loss  of  time, 
and  much  expense  in  travelling  by  seeing  the  Officers  about  mat- 
ters that  concern  their  Corps,  and  themselves  personally  at  the 
Meeting.  If  he  have  no  such  list,  it  is  probable  he  will  forget 
some  of  the  most  important  questions  of  business  he  has  on 
hand. 

"  He  should  have  a  list  of  the  Officers  he  wants  to  see,  together 
with  the  business  upon  which  it  is  necessary  that  he  should 
confer  with  them. 

"  Notes  must  always  be  taken  by  him  of  the  results  of  these 
interviews,  according  to  rule.  Especially  should  any  engage- 
ments the  D.O.  makes  for  himself  be  carefully  recorded. 

"The  D.O.  should  make  some  personal  spiritual  preparation 
for  the  Meeting.  There  must  of  necessity  be  many  things  of  a 
perplexing  and  trying  character  in  connexion  with  the  Officers 
whom  he  will  have  to  meet,  and  the  condition  of  the  Corps  con- 
cerning which  he  will  have  information.  He  ought,  therefore, 
to  make  an  opportunity  beforehand  for  special  prayer  for  Di- 
vine guidance  and  strength,  and  so  enter  the  Meeting  with  his 
mind  calm,  and  confident  in  the  assurance  not  only  of  the 
Divine  favour  in  his  own  soul,  but  that  God  will  sustain  and 
direct  him  in  the  Meeting  and  in  all  the  business  that  may  sub- 
sequently come  before  him. 


^86  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"  The  condition  of  heart  and  spirit  in  the  D.O.  at  such  times 
will  be  instinctively  felt  by  every  Officer  in  the  room  before 
the  Meeting  has  been  going  on  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and 
this  will  have  far  more  influence — as  has  been  remarked  before 
—on  his  Command  than  anything  he  may  say  or  do.  How  im- 
portant is  it,  then,  that  he  should  be  as  Saul  among  the  prophets 
— not  only  head  and  shoulders  above  every  one  present  as  re- 
gards authority,  but  in  the  possession  of  the  wisdom  and  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost!" 


Chapter  XXVII 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY 

As  pointed  out  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  The  General  was 
always  anxious  to  make  clear  to  all,  and  to  avoid,  the 
possibility  of  a  continuance  of  organisation  and  a  routine 
of  effort  without  the  spirit  in  which  the  work  has  been 
begun.  We  could  not  better  describe  that  spirit  than  he 
did  in  the  following  address  to  his  Officers  gathered  around 
him  in  London,  in  1904. 

He  pictured  to  them  the  idea  of  Seven  Spirits  sent  out 
from  Heaven  to  possess  the  soul  of  every  Officer,  and  thus 
described  the  action  of  two  of  them : — 

"The  Spirit  of  Life 

"We  begin  with  the  good  Spirit — the  Spirit  of  Life.  What 
did  he  say?  What  were  the  words  he  brought  to  us  from  the 
Throne  ?  Let  me  repeat  them :  *  O  Officers,  Officers,  I  am  one 
of  the  Seven  Spirits  whom  John  saw.  I  travel  up  and  down  the 
earth  on  special  errands  of  mercy.  I  am  come  from  Him  that 
sitteth  on  the  Throne,  and  reigneth  for  ever  and  ever,  to  tell 
you  that  if  you  are  going  to  succeed  in  your  life-and-death  strug- 
gle for  God  and  man,  the  first  thing  you  must  possess,  in  all  its 
full  and  rich  maturity,  is  the  Spirit  of  Divine  Life.' 

"  Now,  before  I  go  to  the  direct  consideration  of  this  message, 
let  me  have  a  word  or  two  about  life  itself 

"  Life,  as  you  know,  is  the  opposite  principle  to  death.  To  be 
alive  is  to  possess  an  inward  force  capable  of  action  without  any 
outside  assistance.  For  instance:  anything  that  has  in  it  the 
principle  by  which  it  is  able  to  act  in  some  way,  independent  of 
the  will  of  any  other  thing  or  creature  outside  of  itself,  may  be 
said  to  be  alive.     It  has  in  it  the  principle  of  life. 

"  This  principle  of  life  is  the  mainspring  and  glory  of  God's 
universe. 

"  We  have  it  in  different  forms  in  this  world.  For  instance : 
We  have  material  life.  There  is  living  and  dead  water,  and 
there  is  living  and  dead  earth. 

287 


288  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"  Then  there  is  vegetable  life.  In  the  fields,  and  woods,  and 
gardens,  you  have  living  trees,  and  flowers,  and  seeds. 

"  Then  there  is  animal  life.  Only  think  of  the  variety,  and 
usefulness,  and  instinctive  skill  of  unnumbered  members  of  the 
animal  world. 

"Then,  rising  higher  in  the  scale  of  being,  you  have  human 
life.  Every  man,  woman,  and  child  posesses,  as  it  were,  a  trin- 
ity of  existence;  namely,  physical  life,  mental  life,  and  soul 
life;  each  being  a  marvel  in  itself. 

"  Then,  rising  higher  still,  we  have  a  life  more  important,  and 
bringing  more  glory  to  God  than  any  of  the  other  forms  that  I 
have  noticed,  and  that  is  Spiritual  Life. 

"  On  this  Spiritual  Life  let  me  make  one  or  two  remarks. 

"  Spiritual  Life  is  Divine  in  its  origin.  It  is  a  creation  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  I  need  not  dwell  on  this  truth.  Jesus  Christ  was 
at  great  trouble  to  teach  it.  *  Marvel  not,'  He  said,  *  ye  must 
be  born  again.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that 
which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit.'  You  have  gone  through 
this  experience  yourselves.  You  must  insist  on  it  in  your 
people.  Spiritual  life  proceeds  from  God.  It  can  be  obtained 
in  no  other  way. 

"  Spiritual  Life  not  only  proceeds  from  God,  but  partakes  of 
the  nature  of  God. 

"  We  see  this  principle,  that  the  life  imparted  partakes  of  the 
nature  of  the  author  of  being  that  imparts  it,  illustrated  around 
us  in  every  direction. 

"  The  tree  partakes  of  the  nature  of  the  tree  from  which  it  is 
derived.  The  animal  partakes  of  the  nature  of  the  creature  that 
it  begets.  The  child  partakes  of  the  nature  of  its  parents.  So 
the  soul,  born  of  God,  will  possess  the  nature  of  its  Author. 
Its  life  will  be  divine. 

"  This  is  a  mystery.  We  cannot  understand  it,  but  the  Apostle 
distinctly  affirms  it  when  he  says,  the  Son  of  God  is  a  partaker 
of  the  Divine  nature. 

"  Spiritual  Life,  like  all  other  life,  carries  with  it  the  particu- 
lar powers  belonging  to  its  own  nature. 

"  Every  kind  of  life  has  its  own  particular  powers — senses, 
instincts,  or  whatever  they  may  be  called. 

"  Vegetable  life  has  its  powers,  enabling  it  to  draw  nutrition 
out  of  the  ground. 

"  Fish  life  has  power  adapting  it  to  an  existence  in  the  water. 

"  Animal  life  has  powers  or  senses  suitable  to  its  sphere  of 
existence,  such  as  seeing,  hearing,  tasting,  and  the  like. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY  289 

"Human  life  has  faculties,  emotions,  loves  and  hatreds, 
suitable  to  its  manner  of  existence.  And  it  has  its  own  peculiar 
destiny.  It  goes  back  to  God,  to  be  judged  as  to  its  conduct 
when  its  earthly  career  terminates. 

"  And  the  Spiritual  Life  of  which  we  are  speaking  has  powers 
or  faculties  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  its  existence,  and 
to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  appropriate  to  the  sphere  in 
which  it  moves.  For  instance :  it  has  powers  to  draw  from  God 
the  nourishment  it  requires;  it  has  powers  to  see  or  discern 
spiritual  things;  it  has  powers  to  distinguish  holy  people;  it 
has  powers  to  love  truth,  and  to  hate  falsehood;  it  has  powers 
to  suffer  and  sacrifice  for  the  good  of  others.  It  has  powers  to 
know,  and  love,  and  glorify  its  Maker. 

"  Those  possessed  of  this  Spiritual  Life,  like  all  other  beings, 
act  according  to  their  nature. 

"  For  instance :  the  tree  grows  in  the  woods,  and  bears  leaves 
and  fruit  after  its  own  nature.  The  bird  flies  in  the  air,  builds 
its  nest,  and  sings  its  song  after  its  own  nature.  The  wild  beasts 
roam  through  the  forest,  and  rage  and  devour  according  to  their 
own  nature.  If  you  are  to  make  these  or  any  other  creatures 
act  differently,  you  must  give  them  a  different  nature.  By  dis- 
torting the  tree,  or  training  the  animal,  or  clipping  the  wings  oi 
the  bird,  you  may  make  some  trifling  and  temporary  alteration 
in  the  condition  or  conduct  of  these  creatures;  but  when  you 
have  done  this,  left  to  themselves,  they  will  soon  revert  to  their 
original  nature. 

"  By  way  of  illustration.  A  menagerie  recently  paid  a  visit  to 
a  northern  town.  Amongst  the  exhibits  was  a  cage  labelled 
*  The  Happy  Family,'  containing  a  lion,  a  tiger,  a  wolf,  and  a 
lamb.  When  the  keeper  was  asked  confidentially  how  long  a 
time  these  animals  had  lived  thus  peacefully  together,  he 
answered,  'About  ten  months.  But,'  said  he,  with  a  twinkle 
in  his  eye,  '  the  lamb  has  to  be  renewed  occasionally.' 

"  As  with  these  forms  of  life,  so  with  men  and  women  and 
children.  The  only  way  to  secure  conduct  of  a  lasting  charac- 
ter  different  from  its  nature  is  by  effecting  a  change  in  that 
nature.  Make  them  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus  and  you  will 
have  a  Christlike  life. 

"  The  presence  of  the  powers  natural  to  Spiritual  Life  con- 
stitutes the  only  true  and  sufficient  evidence  of  its  possession. 

"  The  absence  of  these  powers  shows  conclusively  the  absence 
of  the  life.  If  a  man  does  not  love  God  and  walk  humbly  with 
Him;  if  he  does  not  long  after  Holiness,  love  his  comrades,  and 


290  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

care  for  souls,  it  will  be  satisfying  evidence  that  he  has  gone 
back  to  the  old  nature — that  is,  to  spiritual  death. 

"  All  Spiritual  Life  is  not  only  imparted  by  Jesus  Christ,  but 
sustained  by  direct  union  with  Him. 

" '  I  am  the  Vine,'  He  says,  *  ye  are  the  branches ;  he  that 
abideth  in  Me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit ; 
for  without  Me  ye  can  do  nothing'  (John  xv.  6). 

"  Nothing  will  make  up  for  the  lack  of  this  life. 

"  This,  indeed,  applies  to  every  kind  of  existence.  You  can- 
not find  a  substitute  for  life  in  the  vegetable  kingdom.  Try  the 
trees  in  the  garden.  Look  at  that  dead  apple-tree.  As  you  see 
it  there,  it  is  useless,  ugly,  fruitless.  What  will  make  up  for  the 
absence  of  life?  Will  the  digging,  or  the  manuring  of  the 
ground  around  it  do  this?  No!  That  will  be  all  in  vain.  If 
it  is  dead,  there  is  only  one  remedy,  and  that  is  to  give  it  life — 
new  life. 

"  Take  the  animal  world.  What  can  you  do  to  make  up  for 
the  lack  of  life  in  a  dog?  I  read  the  other  day  of  a  lady  who 
had  a  pet  dog.  She  loved  it  to  distraction.  It  died.  Whatever 
could  she  do  with  it  to  make  up  for  its  loss  of  life?  Well,  she 
might  have  preserved  it,  stuffed  it,  jewelled  its  eyes,  and  painted 
its  skin.  But  had  she  done  so,  these  things  would  have  been  a 
disappointing  substitute.  So  she  buried  it,  and  committed  sui- 
cide in  her  grief,  and  was  buried  by  its  side. 

"  Take  the  loss  of  human  life.  What  is  the  use  of  a  dead 
man?  Go  to  the  death-chamber.  Look  at  that  corpse.  The 
loved  ones  are  distracted.  What  can  they  do  ?  They  may  dress 
it,  adorn  it,  appeal  to  it.  But  all  that  human  skill  and  effort  can 
conceive  will  be  in  vain.  All  that  the  broken  hearts  can  say  or 
do  must  soon  terminate,  as  did  Abraham's  mourning  for  Sarah, 
when  he  said,  '  Give  me  a  piece  of  land  that  I  may  bury  my  dead 
out  of  my  sight.'     Nothing  can  make  up  for  the  lack  of  life. 

"  But  this  is  specially  true  of  the  Spiritual  Life  of  which  we 
are  speaking.  Take  this  in  its  application  to  a  Corps.  If  you 
want  an  active,  generous,  fighting,  dare-devil  Corps,  able  and 
willing  to  drive  Hell  before  it,  that  Corps  must  be  possessed,  and 
that  fully,  by  this  spirit  of  life.  Nothing  else  can  effectively 
take  its  place.  No  education,  learning,  Bible  knowledge,  the- 
ology, social  amusements,  or  anything  of  the  kind  will  be  a  sat- 
isfactory substitute.  The  Corps  that  seeks  to  put  any  of  these 
things  in  the  place  of  life  will  find  them  a  mockery,  a  delusion, 
and  a  snare;  will  find  them  to  be  only  the  wraps  and  trappings 
of  death  itself. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY  291 

"  And  if  it  is  so  in  the  Corps,  it  is  so  ten  thousand  times  more 
in  the  Officer  who  commands  that  Corps — in  you ! 

"  Spiritual  Life  is  the  essential  root  of  every  other  qualifica- 
tion required  by  a  Salvation  Army  Officer. 

"  With  it  he  will  be  of  unspeakable  interest. 

"He  will  be  a  pleasure  to  himself.  There  is  an  unspeak- 
able joy  in  having  healthy,  exuberant  life. 

"  He  will  be  of  interest  to  those  about  him.  Who  cares  about 
dead  things?  Dead  flowers — throw  them  out.  Dead  animals — 
eat  them.  Dead  men — bury  them.  Dead  and  dying  Officers — 
take  them  away.     Give  them  another  Corps. 

"  If  he  is  living  he  will  be  of  interest  to  all  about  him.  Men 
with  humble  abilities,  if  full  of  this  Spiritual  Life,  will  be  a 
charm  and  a  blessing  wherever  they  go.  Look  at  the  lives  and 
writings  of  such  humble  men  as  Billy  Bray,  Carvosso,  and 
Hodgson  Casson.  Their  memory  is  an  ointment  poured  forth 
to-day  after  long  years  have  passed  away. 

"  Without  this  life  an  Officer  will  be  of  no  manner  of  use. 
No  matter  how  he  may  be  educated  or  talented,  without  life  is 
to  be  without  love;  and  to  be  without  love,  the  Apostle  tells  us, 
is  to  be  only  as  *  a  sounding  brass.'  But  it  is  not  that  of  which 
I  want  to  speak  just  now. 

"  Spiritual  Life  is  essential  to  the  preservation  of  life. 

"  The  first  thing  life  does  for  its  possessor  is  to  lead  him  to 
look  after  its  own  protection.  When  the  principle  of  life  is 
strong,  you  will  have  health  and  longevity.  When  it  is  weak, 
you  have  disease.  When  it  is  extinct,  you  have  decay  and  rot- 
tenness. 

"  Only  vigorous  Spiritual  Life  will  enable  a  Salvation  Army 
Officer  to  effectually  discharge  the  duties  connected  with  his 
position. 

"  Life  is  favorable  to  activity.  It  is  so  with  all  life.  Go 
into  the  tropical  forests,  and  see  the  exuberant  growth  of 
everything  there.  Look  at  the  foliage,  the  blossom,  the  fruit. 
Look  at  the  reptiles  crawling  at  your  feet,  and  take  care  they 
do  not  sting  you.  Look  at  the  birds  chattering  and  fluttering 
on  the  trees,  and  they  will  charm  you.  Look  at  the  animals 
roving  through  the  woods,  and  take  care  they  do  not  devour 
you. 

"  Contrast  all  this  movement  with  the  empty,  barren,  silent. 
Polar  regions,  or  the  dreary,  treeless  sands  of  the  African 
desert. 

"  Go  and  look  at  the  overflowing,  tirelss  activity  of  the  chil- 


292  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

dren.  Why  are  they  never  still?  It  is  the  life  that  is  in  them. 
Go  to  the  man  at  work.  With  what  glee,  and  for  what  a  trifling 
remuneration,  he  sweats,  and  lifts  and  carries  the  ponderous 
weights.  Go  to  the  soldier  in  the  military  war.  How  he 
shouts  and  sings  as  he  marches  to  deprivations,  and  wounds, 
and  death. 

"Even  so  with  Spiritual  Life.  It  never  rests;  it  never  tires; 
it  always  sees  something  great  to  do,  and  is  always  ready  to  un- 
dertake it.  What  is  the  explanation?  How  can  we  account 
for  it?    The  answer  is.  Life — abundant  life. 

"  It  is  only  by  the  possession  of  Life  that  The  Salvation  Army 
Officer  can  spread  this  life. 

"That  is,  reproduce  himself,  multiply  himself,  or  his  kind. 
This  reproduction  or  multiplication  of  itself  is  a  characteristic 
of  all  life. 

"Take  the  vegetable  kingdom.  Every  living  plant  has  life- 
producing  seed,  or  some  method  of  reproducing  itself.  The 
thistle:  who  can  count  the  number  of  plants  that  one  thistle 
can  produce  in  a  year?  One  hundred  strawberry  plants  can 
be  made  in  ten  years  to  produce  more  than  a  thousand  million 
other  strawberry  plants! 

"Take  the  animal  kingdom.  Here  each  living  creature  has 
this  reproductive  power.  They  say  that  a  pair  of  sparrows 
would  in  ten  years,  if  all  their  progeny  could  be  preserved,  pro- 
duce as  many  birds  as  there  are  people  on  the  earth — that  is, 
1,500,000,000.     *Ye  are  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows.' 

"Just  so,  this  Spiritual  Life  is  intended  to  spread  itself 
through  the  world. 

"It  is  to  this  end  it  is  given  to  you.  God's  command  to  Adam 
was,  *  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth.'  How 
much  more  does  this  command  apply  to  you  and  to  me!  You 
are  to  be  progenitors  of  a  world  of  men  and  women  possessed 
of  Spiritual  Life;  the  parents  of  a  race  of  angels.  How  this  is 
to  be  done  is  another  question.  About  that  I  shall  have  some- 
thing to  say  as  we  go  along.  For  the  moment,  I  am  simply  oc- 
cupied with  the  fact  that  you  have  to  call  this  world  of  holy 
beings  into  existence  by  spreading  this  life. 

"Every  Officer  here  is  located  in  a  world  of  death.  Some- 
times we  style  it  a  dying  world,  and  so  it  is  on  its  human  side, 
but  on  its  spiritual  side  it  is  past  dying;  it  is  dead.  By  that  I 
do  not  mean  that  the  spiritual  nature,  that  is  the  soul,  ever 
ceases  to  be  in  any  man.  That  will  never  come  to  pass.  Per- 
haps nothing  once  created  will  ever  cease  to  be.    Anyway,  man 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY  293 

is  immortal.  The  soul  can  never  die.  Neither  do  I  mean  that 
there  is  no  Spiritual  Life. 

"  By  spiritual  death  we  mean  that  the  soul  is — Separated  from 
God;  no  union  with  Him.  In  a  blind  man  the  organ  may  be 
perfect,  but  not  connected. 

"Inactive.  No  love  for  the  things  God  loves.  No  hatred 
for  the  things  He  hates.  Dead  to  His  interests,  His  kingdom; 
dead  to  Him. 

"  Corrupt,  bad,  devilish,  etc.  What  a  valley  of  dry  bones  the 
world  appears  to  the  man  whose  eyes  have  been  opened  to  see 
the  truth  of  things.  Verily,  verily,  it  is  one  great  cemetery 
crowded  with  men,  women,  and  children  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sin.  Look  for  a  moment  at  this  graveyard,  in  which  the  men 
around  you  may  be  said  to  lie  with  their  hearts  all  dead  and 
cold  to  Christ,  and  all  that  concerns  their  Salvation.  Look  at 
it.  The  men  and  women  and  children  in  your  town  are  buried 
there.  The  men  and  women  in  your  city,  in  your  street.  Nay, 
the  very  people  who  come  to  your  Hall  to  hear  you  talk  on  a 
Sunday  night  are  there.  There  they  lie.  Let  us  read  the  in- 
scriptions on  some  of  their  tombs: — 

"  Here  lies  Tom  Jones 

"  He  had  a  beautiful  nature,  and  a  young,  virtuous  wife,  and 
some  beautiful  children.  All  starved  and  wretched  through 
their  father's  selfish  ways.  He  can't  help  himself.  He  says  so. 
He  has  proved  it.    He  is  dead  in  drunkenness. 

"Here  lies  Harry  Pleas  e-Y  ours  elf 

"Mad  on  footballing,  theatres,  music-halls,  dances,  and  the 
like.  Nothing  else  morning,  noon,  or  night  seems  to  interest 
him.    There  he  is,  dead  in  pleasure. 

"Here  lies  James  Haughtiness 

"Full  of  high  notions  about  his  abilities,  or  his  knowledge, 
or  his  family,  or  his  house,  or  his  fortune,  or  his  business,  or  his 
dogs,  or  something.    There  he  is,  dead  in  pride. 

"  Here  lies  Jane  Featherhead 

"Absorbed  in  her  hats,  and  gowns,  and  ribbons,  and  com- 
panions, and  attainments.    There  she  is,  dead  in  vanity. 

"Here  lies  Miser  Graspall 
"Taken    up    with    his    money — sovereigns,    dollars,    francs. 


294i  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

kroner,  much  or  little.  '  Let  me  have  more  and  more '  is  his 
dream,  and  his  cry,  and  his  aim,  by  night  and  day.  There  he  is, 
dead  in  covetousness. 

"Here  lies  Sceptical  Doubtall 

"Hunting  through  the  world  of  nature,  and  revolution,  and 
providence,  and  specially  through  the  dirty  v^orld  of  his  own 
dark  little  heart,  for  arguments  against  God  and  Christ  and 
Heaven.     There  he  is,  dead  in  infidelity. 

"Here  lies  Jeremiah  Make-Believe 

"With  his  Bible  Class  and  Singing  Choir,  and  Sunday  re- 
ligion, and  heartless  indifference  to  the  Salvation  or  damnation 
of  the  perishing  crowds  at  his  door.  There  he  is,  dead  in 
formality. 

"  Here  lies  Surly  Badblood 

"  Packed  full  of  suspicions  and  utter  disregards  for  the 
happiness  and  feelings  of  his  wife,  family,  neighbours,  or 
friends.    There  he  is,  dead  in  bad  tempers. 

"Here  lies  Dives  Enjoy-Yourself 

"  Look  at  his  marble  tomb,  and  golden  coffin,  and  em- 
broidered shroud,  and  ermine  robes.  This  is  a  man  whose 
every  earthly  want  is  supplied — Carriages,  music,  friends. 
There  he  is,  dead  in  luxury. 

"Here  lies  Dick  Never-Fear 

"His  mouth  is  filled  with  laughter,  and  his  heart  with  con- 
tempt when  you  speak  to  him  about  his  soul.  He  has  no 
anxiety,  not  he.  He'll  come  off  all  right,  never  fear.  Is  not 
God  merciful?  And  did  not  Christ  die?  And  did  not  his 
mother  pray?  Don't  be  alarmed,  God  won't  hurt  him.  There 
he  is,  dead  in  presumption. 

"Here  lies  Judas  Renegade 

"His  grave  has  a  desolate  look.  The  thorns  and  thistles 
grow  over  it.  The  occupant  has  money  and  worldly  friends, 
and  many  other  things,  but  altogether  he  gets  no  satisfaction 
out  of  them;  he  is  uneasy  all  the  time.  There  he  is,  dead  in 
apostacy. 

"There  are  any  number  of  other  graves.    It  is  interesting. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY  295 

although  painful,  to  wander  amongst  them.  All,  or  nearly 
all,  their  occupants  are  held  down  by  a  heavy  weight  of 
ignorance,  a  sense  of  utter  helplessness.  And  all  are  bound 
hand  and  foot  with  chains  of  lust,  or  passion,  or  procrastina- 
tion, of  their  own  forging.  In  the  midst  of  these  graves  you 
live,  and  move,  and  have  your  being. 

"What  is  your  duty  here?  Oh,  that  you  realised  your 
true  business  in  this  region  of  death !  Having  eyes.  Oh !  that 
you  could  see.  Having  ears,  Oh !  that  you  could  hear.  Hav- 
ing hearts.  Oh !  that  you  could  feel.  What  are  you  going  to 
do  with  this  graveyard  ?  Walk  about  it  in  heartless  uncon- 
cern, or  with  no  higher  feeling  than  gratitude  for  having  been 
made  alive  yourselves?  Or  will  you  content  yourselves  with 
strolling  through  it,  taxing  its  poor  occupants  for  your  living 
while  leaving  them  quietly  in  their  tombs  as  hopeless  as  you 
found  them?  Heaven  forbid!  Well,  then,  what  do  you  pro- 
pose?   What  will  you  do? 

"  Look  after  their  bodies,  and  feed  and  nourish  them,  mak- 
ing the  graveyard  as  comfortable  a  resting-place  as  you  can? 
That  is  good,  so  far  as  it  goes,  but  that  is  not  very  far.  Will 
that  content  you?  Decorate  their  graves  with  flowers  and 
evergreens,  and  wreaths  of  pleasant  things?  Will  that  con- 
tent you?  Amuse  them  with  your  music,  or  the  singing  of 
your  songs,  or  the  letting  off  of  your  oratorical  fireworks 
among  their  rotting  corpses?  Will  that  content  you?  In- 
struct them  in  doctrines,  and  rescues,  and  Salvations  in  which 
they  have  no  share?  Will  that  content  you?  No!  No! 
No!  A  thousand  times  no!  You  won't  be  content  with  all 
that.  God  has  sent  you  into  this  dark  valley  for  nothing  less 
than  to  raise  these  doom-struck  creatures  from  the  dead. 
That  is  your  mission.  To  stop  short  of  this  will  be  a  disas- 
trous and  everlasting  calamity. 

"  What  do  you  say  ?  It  cannot  be  done  ?  That  is  false. 
God  would  never  have  set  you  an  impossible  task.  You  can- 
not do  it?  That  is  false  again,  for  you  have  done  it  before 
again  and  again.  There  is  not  an  Officer  here  who  has  not 
called  some  souls  from  the  dead.  Not  one.  How  many 
thousands — how  many  tens  of  thousands,  in  the  aggregate, 
have  the  Officers  present  at  this  Congress  raised  from  the 
graves   of   iniquity?     Who  can   tell? 

"  Go,  and  do  it  again.  Go,  and  look  at  them.  Go,  and  com- 
passionate them.  Go,  and  represent  Jesus  Christ  to  them! 
Go,  and  prophesy  to  them.     Go,  and  believe  for  them.     And 


296  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

then  shall  bone  come  to  bone,  and  there  shall  be  a  great 
noise,  and  a  great  Army  shall  stand  up  to  live,  and  fight,  and 
die  for  the  living  God. 

"^THE    SPIRIT    OF    PURITY 

"And  now  we  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  message 
of  the  second  Spirit.  Let  us  recall  his  words :  *  O  Officers, 
Officers,  the  Great  Father  has  sent  me  to  tell  you  that  if  you 
would  be  successful  in  your  campaign  against  wickedness,  self- 
ishness, and  fiends,  you  must  yourselves  be  holy.' 

"I  come  now  to  the  task  of  showing,  as  far  as  I  am  able, 
what  the  plan  of  life  is  which  God  has  formed  for  a  Salva- 
tion Army  Officer. 

"What  must  an  Officer  be  and  do  who  wants  satisfac- 
torily to  fill  up  the  plan  God  has  formed  for  him?  Of  course, 
there  will  in  some  respects  be  certain  striking  differences  in 
that  plan.  But  in  the  main  there  will  be  remarkable  resem- 
blances. 

"The  first  thing  that  God  asks  is,  that  the  Officer  shall 
possess  the  character  He  approves. 

"You  might  say  the  character  that  He  admires.  The  very 
essence  of  that  character  is  expressed  in  one  word — Holiness. 

"  In  the  list  of  qualifications  for  effective  leadership  in 
this  warfare.  The  Salvation  Army  has  ever  placed  Holiness 
in  the  first  rank.  The  Army  has  said,  and  says  to-day,  that 
no  other  qualities  or  abilities  can  take  its  place.  No  learn- 
ing, or  knowledge,  or  talking,  or  singing,  or  scheming,  or 
any  other  gift  will  make  up  for  the  absence  of  this.  You 
must  be  good  if  you  are  to  be  a  successful  Officer  in  The 
Salvation  Army. 

"Let  us  suppose  that  a  comrade  were  to  present  himself 
before  us  this  morning,  and  say,  *  I  am  a  Salvationist.  I 
want  to  be  an  Officer  amongst  you,  and  I  want  to  be  an 
Officer  after  God's  own  Heart;  but  I  am  ignorant  of  the 
qualifications  needed.'  If  I  were  to  ask  you  what  I  should 
say  to  this  brother,  I  know  what  your  answer  would  be.  You 
would  say,  with  one  voice,  'Tell  him  that,  before  all  else,  he 
must  be  a  holy  man.' 

"  Suppose,   further,  that  I  appeared  before  you  myself  for 

the  first  time  at  this  Congress,  and  were  to  say  to  you :  *  My 

comrades,  I  have  come  to  be  your  Leader.     What  is  the  first, 

;     the    foundation    quality    I    require    for    your    leadership?'    I 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY  297 

know  the  answer  you  would  give  me.  You  would  say,  *  O 
General,  you  must  be  a  holy  man.' 

"If  there  were  gathered  before  me,  in  some  mighty  build- 
ing, the  choicest  spirits  now  fighting  in  The  Salvation  Army 
the  world  over — Commissioners  and  Staff  Officers,  Field  Offi- 
cers and  Local  Officers,  together  with  Soldiers  of  every  grade 
and  class;  and  suppose,  further,  that  standing  out  before  that 
crowd,  I  was  to  propose  the  question :  *  In  what  position  in 
our  qualifications  shall  I  place  the  blessing  of  Holiness  ?  *  you 
know  what  the  answer  would  be.  With  a  voice  that  would 
be  heard  among  the  multitudes  in  Heaven  the  crowd  would 
answer :  *  Holiness  must  be  in  the  first  rank.' 

"  If  this  morning  I  had  the  privilege  of  ascending  to  the 
Celestial  City,  and  asking  the  assembled  angels  in  that  mighty 
temple  where,  day  and  night,  they  worship  the  Great  Je- 
hovah: *What  position  ought  Holiness  to  occupy  in  the  quali- 
fications needed  by  Salvation  Army  Officers  in  their  fight  on 
earth  ? '  you  know  that  angels  and  archangels,  cherubim  and 
seraphim,  would  join  with  the  Seven  Spirits  that  are  before 
the  Throne  with  one  united  shout,  loud  enough  to  make  the 
ears  of  Gabriel  tingle,  and  would  answer,  *  Place  it  first.' 

"  If  I  could  have  the  still  greater  privilege  of  kneeling 
before  the  intercessory  Throne  of  my  dear,  my  precious,  my 
glorified  Saviour,  and  of  asking  Him  what  position  this  truth 
should  hold  in  the  hearts  and  efforts  of  Salvation  Army 
Officers,  you  know  that  He  would  answer:  'Blessed  are  the 
pure  in  heart.'    Holiness  comes  first. 

"  If,  further  still,  borne  on  a  burning  seraph's  wings  I  could 
rise  to  the  Heaven  of  Heavens,  and,  like  its  holy  inhabitants, 
be  allowed  to  enter  the  Holy  of  Holies,  where  Jehovah  espe- 
cially manifests  His  glory;  and  if,  prostrate  before  that 
Throne,  with  all  reverence  I  should  ask  the  question :  *  What 
is  the  first  and  most  important  qualification  a  Salvation  Army 
Officer  must  possess  in  order  to  do  Your  Blessed  Will  ?  * 
you  have  His  answer  already.  You  know  that  He  would  re- 
ply :  *  Be  ye  holy,  for  I  am  holy.' 

"What,  then,  is  that  Holiness  which  constitutes  the  first 
qualification  of  an  Officer,  and  which  is  asked  for  by  that 
Blessed  Spirit  of  Purity  coming  from  the  Throne  of  God? 

"  In  replying  to  this  question  I  cannot  hope  to  do  more 
than  put  you  in  remembrance  of  what  you  must  already  know. 

"  I  will,  however,  to  begin  with,  take  the  broad  ground 
that   Holiness,   in   the   sense   in   which   The   Salvation  Army 


298  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

uses  the  word,  means  entire  deliverance  from  sin.  I  shall 
explain  myself  as  I  go  along.  But  I  begin  with  the  assertion 
that  holy  souls  are  saved  from  sin. 

"  You  all  know  what  sin  is.  And  it  is  important  that  you 
should,  and  that  you  should  be  able  to  define  it  at  a  moment's 
notice  to  whomsoever  may  inquire.  John  says :  *  All  un- 
righteousness is  sin.'  That  is,  everything  that  a  man  sees  to 
be  actually  wrong,  that  to  him  is  sin.  Whether  the  wrong 
be  an  outward  act,  or  an  inward  thought,  or  a  secret  purpose 
does  not  affect  its  character.  If  the  act,  or  thought,  or  pur- 
pose is  wrong  to  that  particular  soul  it  is  sin.  Whether  the 
wrong  be  done  in  public  and  blazoned  abroad  before  the  world 
as  such,  or  whether  it  be  committed  in  darkness  and  secrecy, 
where  no  human  eye  can  follow  it,  matters  not;  it  is  sin. 

"  To  be  holy,  I  say,  is  to  be  delivered  from  the  commission 
of  sin.    Is  not  that  blessed? 

"  To  be  holy  is  to  be  delivered  from  the  penalty  of  sin. 
*  The  wages  of  sin  is  death.'  Holy  men  are  fully  and  freely 
forgiven.  One  of  the  evidences  of  the  possession  of  Holi- 
ness is  the  full  assurance  of  that  deliverance.  Salvation  from 
doubt  as  to  this.     Is  not  that  blessed? 

"  Holiness   includes   deliverance   from  the  guilt   of  sin. 

"  Sin  has  a  retributive  power.  At  the  moment  of  commis- 
sion it  implants  a  sting  in  the  conscience  which,  in  the  impeni- 
tent man,  lights  a  flame,  which,  without  the  application  of  the 
Precious  Blood,  is  never  extinguished.  In  Holiness  the  sting 
is  extracted,  and  the  fire  is  quenched.     Is  not  that  blessed? 

"  Holiness  supposes  deliverance  from  the  defilement  of  sin. 

"  Sin  pollutes  the  imagination,  defiles  the  memory,  and  is 
a  filth-creating  leaven,  which,  unless  purged  away,  ultimately 
corrupts  and  rots  the  whole  being. 

"In  Holiness  all  the  filth  is  cleansed  away.  The  soul  is 
washed  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb.  This  is  the  reason  for  so 
much  being  said  in  the  Bible,  and  in  the  experience  of  en- 
tirely sanctified  people,  about  purity  of  heart.  Is  not  that 
blessed  ? 

*'  Holiness  means  complete  deliverance  from  the  bondage 
of  sin. 

"  Every  time  a  sin  is  committed,  the  inclination  to  do  the 
same  again  is  encouraged,  and  those  habits  which  belong  to 
the  evil  nature  are  strengthened  until  they  assume  the  mastery 
of  the  soul,  and  the  soul  comes  more  and  more  under  the 
tyranny  of  evil. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY  299 

"  In  conversion  the  chains  that  bind  men  to  sin  are  broken, 
but  the  tendency  to  evil  still  lingers  behind.  In  Holiness  the 
bondage  is  not  only  entirely  destroyed,  and  the  soul  completely 
delivered  from  these  evil  tendencies,  but  is  free  to  do  the 
v^^ill  of  God,  so  far  as  it  is  known,  as  really  as  it  is  done  in 
Heaven.     Is  not  that  blessed? 

"HoHness  supposes  the  deliverance  of  the  soul  from  the 
rule  and  reign  of  selfishness. 

"  The  essence  of  sin  is  selfishness ;  that  is,  the  unreasoning, 
improper  love  of  self.  The  essence  of  Holiness  is  benev- 
olence.  Holy  souls  are  mastered  by  love,  filled  with  love. 
Is  not  that  blessed? 

"  It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  the  Officer  who  enjoys  this 
experience  of  Holiness  will  have  received  power  from  God 
to  live  a  life  consciously  separated  from  sin. 

"A  man  cannot  be  living  in  a  God-pleasing  state  if  he  is 
knowingly  living  in  sin,  or  consenting  to  it,  which  amounts 
to  the  same  thing.    Let  us  look  a  little  more  closely  at  this. 

"Holiness  will  mean  a  present  separation  from  all  that  is 
openly  or  secretly  untrue. 

"Any  one  pretending  to  be  doing  the  will  of  God,  while 
acting  untruthfully  or  deceitfully  in  his  dealings  with  those 
around  him,  is  not  only  guilty  of  falsehood,  but  of  hypocrisy. 

"To  be  holy  is  to  be  sincere. 

"  Holiness  means  separation  from  all  open  and  secret  dis- 
honesty. This  applies  to  everything  like  defrauding  another 
of  that  which  is  his  just  and  lawful  due. 

"Holiness  also  means  separation  from  all  that  is  unjust. 

"  Doing  unto  others  as  you  would  that  they  should  do  to 
you,  may  be  truly  described  as  one  of  the  lovely  flowers  and 
fruits  of  Purity. 

"Holiness  means  Salvation  from  all  neglect  of  duty  to 
God  and  man. 

"All  pretensions  to  Holiness  are  vain  while  the  soul  is 
living  in  the  conscious  neglect  of  duty.  A  holy  Officer  will 
do  his  duty  to  his  Maker.  He  will  love  God  with  all  his 
heart — such  a  heart  as  he  has,  big  or  little.  He  will  love  and 
worship  Him,  and  strive  to  please  Him  in  all  that  he  does. 
A  holy  Officer  will  love  his  neighbour  as  himself.  The  law 
of  love  will  govern  his  dealings  with  his  family,  comrades, 
neighbours — body  and  soul. 

"  That  is  a  beautiful  experience  which  I  am  describing,  is 
it  not,  my  comrades?    And  you  cannot  be  surprised  that  the 


300  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

Spirit  of  Purity  should  bring  you  the  message  that  it  is  God's 
plan  of  life  for  you. 

"Upon  it  let  me  make  a  few  further  remarks. 

"Holiness  is  a  distinct  definite  state;  a  man  can  be  in  it 
or  out  of  it. 

"Holiness  is  enjoyed  partially  or  entirely  by  all  converted 
people.  It  can  be  enjoyed  partially.  No  one  would  say  that 
every  converted  man  was  a  holy  man,  and  no  one  would  say 
that  every  man  who  was  not  perfectly  holy  was  not  converted. 
But  I  should  say,  and  so  would  you,  that  every  truly  converted 
man  is  the  master  of  sin,  although  he  may  not  be  entirely 
delivered  from  it. 

"Then,  again.  Holiness  is  a  continued  growth  in  sincere 
souls.  With  faith,  watchfulness,  prayer,  and  obedience,  the 
power  of  sin  diminishes  as  the  days  pass  along,  and  the 
strength  of  Holiness  increases. 

"  The  line  which  separates  a  state  of  entire  from  a  state 
of  partial  Holiness  may  be  approached  very  gradually,  but 
there  is  a  moment  when  it  is  crossed. 

"  The  approach  of  death  is  often  all  but  imperceptible, 
but  there  is  a  moment  when  the  last  breath  is  drawn.  Just 
so  there  is  a  moment  when  the  body  of  sin  is  destroyed,  how- 
ever gradual  the  process  may  have  been  by  which  that  state 
has  been  reached.  There  is  a  moment  when  the  soul  be- 
comes entirely  holy — entirely  God's. 

"  By  perseverance  in  the  sanctified  life  spiritual  manhood 
is  reached,  and  the  soul  is  perfected  in  love;  that  is  maturity. 

"Let  me  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  Holiness,  in  its  varied 
aspects,  by  comparing  its  attainment  to  the  ascent  of  a  lofty 
mountain. 

"  Come  with  me.  Yonder  is  the  sacred  mount,  towering 
far  above  the  clouds  and  fogs  of  sin  and  selfishness.  Around 
its  base,  stretching  into  the  distance,  as  far  as  eye  can  reach, 
lies  a  flat,  dismal,  swampy  country.  The  district  is  thickly 
populated  by  a  people  who,  while  professing  the  enjoyment 
of  religion,  are  swallowed  up  in  unreality  about  everything 
that  appertains  to  Salvation.  They  talk,  and  sing,  and  pray, 
and  write,  and  read  about  it,  but  they  are  all  more  or  less  in 
doubt  whether  they  have  any  individual  part  or  lot  in  the 
matter.  Sometimes  they  think  they  have  a  hope  of  Heaven, 
but  more  frequently  they  are  afraid  that  their  very  hopes  are 
a  delusion. 

"The  land  is  haunted  by  troubling  spirits  continually  com- 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY  301 

ing  and  going,  that  point  to  past  misdoings  and  coming  penal- 
ties. Such  venomous  creatures  as  hatreds,  revenges,  lusts, 
and  other  evil  passions  are  rife  in  every  direction;  while  the 
demons  of  doubt  and  despair  seem  to  come  and  go  of  their 
own  free  will,  leading  men  and  women  on  the  one  hand  to 
indifference,  worldliness,  and  infidelity,  and  on  the  other  to 
darkness  and  despair.  This  wild,  dismal  territory  we  will 
style  'The  Land  of  Uncertainty.' 

"In  the  centre  of  this  unlovable  and  undesirable  country 
the  mountain  of  which  I  want  to  speak  lifts  its  lofty  head. 
Call  it  *  Mount  Pisgah '  or  '  Mount  Beulah,'  or,  if  you  will, 
call  it  *  Mount  Purity' — ^I  like  that  term  the  best.  But  what- 
ever you  name  it,  there  it  is,  rising  up  above  the  clouds  and 
fogs  of  sin  and  selfishness,  and  doubt  and  fear  and  condemna- 
tion that  ever  overhang  the  swampy  Land  of  Uncertainty,  of 
which  I  have  given  you  a  glimpse. 

"  Look  at  it.  There  are  some  monster  mountains  in  the 
natural  world,  but  they  are  mere  molehills  alongside  this 
giant  height.  Look  at  it  again.  Is  it  not  an  entrancing 
sight?  Its  lofty  brow,  crowned  with  a  halo  of  glorious  light, 
reaches  far  upwards  towards  the  gates  of  endless  day,  those 
living  on  its  summit  having  glorious  glimpses  of  the  towers 
and  palaces  of  the  Celestial  City.  The  atmosphere  is  emi- 
nently promotive  of  vigorous  health  and  lively  spirits.  But 
its  chief  claim  is  the  purity  of  heart,  the  constant  faith,  the 
loving  nature,  and  the  consecrated,  self-sacrificing  devotion 
of  those  who  are  privileged  to  dwell  there.  It  must  be  a 
charming  place.  The  multitudes  whose  feet  have  ever  been 
permitted  to  tread  its  blessed  heights  think  so. 

"  But  while  gazing  on  the  entrancing  sight,  the  question 
spontaneously  arises :  *  How  can  I  get  there  ? '  There  is  evi- 
dently no  mountain  railway  nor  elevator  on  which,  while 
reclining  on  pillows  of  ease,  and  serenaded  by  music  and  song, 
you  can  be  rapidly  and  smoothly  lifted  up  to  the  blessed  sum- 
mit. Those  who  reach  that  heavenly  height  must  climb  what 
the  Bible  calls  the  *  Highway  of  Holiness. '  And  they  will 
usually  find  it  a  rugged,  difficult  journey,  often  having  to 
fight  every  inch  of  the  way.  But,  once  on  the  celestial  sum- 
mit, the  travellers  will  feel  amply  repaid  for  every  atom  of 
trouble  and  toil  involved  in  the  ascent. 

"  The  road  to  this  glorious  height  passes  through  various 
plateaux  or  stages  which  run  all  round  the  sides  of  the  moun- 
tain,   each   different   from   the   other,   and  each   higher   than 


302  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

the  one  that  preceded  it.  Travellers  to  the  summit  have  to 
pass  through  each  of  these  stages.  Let  me  enumerate  some 
of  the  chief  among  them. 

"  To  begin  with,  there  is  the  awakening  stage,  where  the 
climbers  obtain  their  first  fair  view  of  this  holy  hill. 

"It  is  here  that  the  desire  to  make  the  ascent  first  breaks 
out.  This  longing  is  often  awakened  by  reading  various 
guide-books  or  Holiness  advertisements,  such  as  The  War 
Cry,  or  Perfect  Love,  which  set  forth  the  blessedness  experi- 
enced by  those  who  make  the  heavenly  ascent.  Sometimes 
the  desire  to  ascend  the  holy  hill  is  awakened  by  the  pure 
light  which  every  now  and  then  shines  from  the  summit  di- 
rect into  the  travellers'  hearts.  Or,  it  may  be  their  souls  are 
set  on  fire  with  a  holy  longing  to  be  emptied  of  sin  and  filled 
with  love  by  the  burning  testimonies  of  some  of  the  people 
who  live  up  there,  but  who  come  down  into  the  valley  every 
now  and  then  to  persuade  their  comrades  to  make  the  ascent. 
Anyway,  it  almost  always  happens  when  those  who  read  these 
guide-books  and  listen  to  these  testimonies  begin  to  search 
their  Bibles  and  cry  to  God  for  guidance,  that  a  spirit  of  hun- 
ger and  thirst  sets  in  which  gives  them  no  rest  until  they 
themselves  resolve  to  take  the  journey  up  the  side  of  this 
"wonderful  mountain. 

"A  little  higher  up,  and  you  reach  the  starting  stage. 

"  Here  those  who  fully  resolve  upon  seeking  holiness  of 
heart  first  enter  their  names  in  the  *  Travellers'  Book.'  On 
this  plateau  I  observe  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  prayer. 
You  can  hear  the  earnest  petitions  going  up  to  Heaven, 
whichever  way  you  turn.  And,  much  prayer  as  there  is,  you 
can  hear  much  singing  also.  One  of  the  favourite  songs 
commences : — 

"O  glorious  hope  of  perfect  love  I 
It  lifts  me  up  to  things  above. 

It  bears  on  eagles'  wings; 
It  gives  my  ravished  soul  a  taste, 
And  makes  me  for  some  moments  feast 

With  Jesus'  priests  and  kings. 

"  There  is  another  favourite  song  which  begins : — 

"O  joyful  sound  of  Gospel  grace! 
Christ  shall  in  me  appear; 
I,  even  I,  shall  see  His  face, 
I  shall  be  holy  here. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY 

"  But,   still  ascending,  we  come  to  the  wrestling  stage. 

"  Here  the  travellers  are  met  by  numerous  enemies,  who 
are  in  dead  opposition  to  their  ever  reaching  the  summit. 

"  I  observe  that  the  enemies  attack  those  travellers  with 
doubts  as  to  the  possibility  of  ever  reaching  the  mountain's 
top,  and  with  scores  of  questions  about  apparently  conflicting 
passages  of  Scripture,  and  contradictory  experiences  of 
Christian  people ;  and,  alas !  with  only  too  frequent  success, 
for  the  whole  plateau  seems  to  be  strewn  with  the  records  of 
broken  resolutions  relating  to  the  renouncements  of  evil  hab- 
its,  tempting   companions,   and   deluding   indulgences. 

"And  I  observe  that  lying  about  are  many  unfulfilled  con- 
secrations relating  to  friends,  and  money,  and  children,  and 
time,  and  other  things;  in  fact,  this  stage  seems  to  be  a 
strange  mixture  of  faith  and  unbelief;  so  much  so  that  it  is 
difficult  to  believe  that  we  are  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Purity 
at  all. 

"  Here  you  will  find  posted  on  the  sides  of  the  rocks  in 
all  directions  placards  bearing  the  words :  '  The  things  I  would 
do  those  I  do  not,  and  the  things  I  would  not  do  those  I  do, 
and  there  is  no  spiritual  health  in  me.*  And  up  and  down 
you  will  also  see  notice-boards  warning  would-be  travellers 
not  to  climb  any  higher  for  fear  they  should  fall  again. 

"  But,  thank  God,  while  many  chicken-hearted  souls  lie 
down  in  despair  on  this  plateau,  or  retrace  their  steps  to  the 
dreary  regions  below,  others  declare  that  there  is  no  necessity 
for  failure.  These  push  forward  in  the  upward  ascent,  sing- 
ing as  they  go: — 

"Though  earth  and  hell  the  world  gainsay, 

The  word  of  God  can  never  fail; 
The   Lamb  shall  take  my  sins  away, 

'Tis  certain,  though  impossible; 
The  thing  impossible  shall  be, 
All  things  are  possible  to  me. 

"  So,  persevering  with  our  journey,  higher  up,  very  much 
higher  up,  we  come  to  the  sin-mastering  stage. 

"  This  is  a  glorious  plateau.  All  who  enter  it  do  so  by 
the  narrow  passage  of  repentance  towards  God,  and  faith  in 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  receiving  in  their  souls,  as  they  pass 
the  threshold,  the  delightful  assurance  of  full  and  free  for- 
giveness through  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb. 


804  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"Here  men  and  women  walk  with  heads  erect  in  holy 
confidence,  and  hearts  glad  with  living  faith,  and  mouths  full 
of  joyous  song,  and  eyes  steadily  fixed  on  the  holy  light  that 
streams  from  the  summit  of  the  mount  above  them.  That 
holy  beacon  guide  is  ever  calling  on  them  to  continue  their 
journey,  and  ever  directing  them  on  the  way. 

"Those  who  have  reached  this  stage  have  already  made 
great  and  encouraging  progress;  for  God  has  made  them 
conquerors  over  their  inward  foes.  The  rule  and  reign  of 
pride  and  malice,  envy  and  lust,  covetousness  and  sensuality, 
and  every  other  evil  thing  have  come  to  an  end. 

"  They  triumph  on  that  account,  but  the  conflict  is  not  yet 
ended.  Sometimes  the  battling  is  very  severe ;  but  with  pa- 
tient, plodding  faith  they  persevere  in  the  ascent,  singing  as 
they  go: — 

"Faith,   mighty   faith,   the   promise   sees, 
And  looks  to  that  alone; 
Laughs  at  impossibilities, 
And  cries,  '  It  shall  be  done ! ' 

"And  now,  close  at  hand,  is  the  stage  of  deliverance,  where 
the  triumph  is  begun. 

"And  now,  ten  thousand  Hallelujahs!  let  it  be  known  to 
all  the  world  around,  that  once  on  this  plateau  the  separation 
from  sin  is  entire;  the  heart  is  fully  cleansed  from  evil;  the 
promise  is  proved  to  be  true,  *  They  that  hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness  shall  be  filled.' 

"At  a  great  Christian  Conference  the  other  day  an  eminent 
divine  said  that  The  Salvation  Army  believed  in  a  *  perfect 
sinner,'  but  that  he  believed  in  a  *  perfect  Saviour.'  This,  I 
contend,  was  a  separation  of  what  God  has  joined  together 
and  which  never  ought  to  be  put  asunder.  For,  glory  be  to 
the  Father,  glory  be  to  the  Son,  and  glory  be  to  the  Holy 
Ghost,  The  Salvation  Army  believes,  with  its  Lord,  that  a 
perfect  Saviour  can  make  a  poor  sinner  into  a  perfect  saint. 
That  is,  He  can  enable  him  to  fulfil  His  own  command,  in 
which  He  says :  *  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
which  is  in  Heaven  is  perfect.'     (Matthew  v.  48.) 

"  But  there  is  one  plateau  higher  still  which,  like  a  table- 
land, covers  the  entire  summit  of  the  mountain,  and  that  is 
the  maturity  stage. 

"Here   the   graces   of   the    Spirit   have   been   perfected   by 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY  305 

experience,  and  faith,  and  obedience,  and  the  soul  does  the 
will  of  God  as  it  is  done  in  Heaven,  united  in  the  eternal  com- 
panionship of  that  lovely  being — the  Spirit  of  Purity. 

"  What  do  you  say  to  my  holy  mountain,  my  comrades  ? 

"  Are  you  living  up  there  ?  Have  you  climbed  as  near  to 
Heaven  as  that  represents?  H  not,  I  want  to  make  a  declara- 
tion which  you  have  often  heard  before,  but  which  it  will  do 
you  no  harm  to  hear  again,  namely,  that  it  is  the  will  of  God 
that  you  should  not  only  reach  the  very  summit,  but  that  you 
should  abide  there. 

"  Do  you  ask  why  God  wills  that  you  should  reach  and 
abide  on  this  holy  mountain? 

"  I  reply  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  you  and  I,  and  every 
other  Officer  in  this  blessed  Army,  should  be  holy  for  His 
own  satisfaction. 

"  God  finds  pleasure  in  holy  men  and  holy  women.  We 
know  what  it  is  to  find  pleasure  in  kindred  companions.  It 
is  to  like  to  be  near  them.  To  want  to  live  with  them,  or 
have  them  to  live  with  us.  It  is  to  be  willing  to  travel  any 
distance,  or  put  ourselves  to  any  inconvenience  to  reach  them. 
According  to  the  Bible,  that  is  just  how  God  feels  towards 
His  faithful  people.  He  finds  satisfaction  in  their  doings,  and 
praying,  and  worship,  and  song.  But  when  there  is  unfaith- 
fulness or  sin  of  any  kind  this  pleasure  is  sadly  marred,  if 
not  altogether  destroyed.  In  such  cases  the  pleasure  is  turned 
to  pain,  the  satisfaction  to  loathing,  and  the  love  to  hatred. 

"  Hear  what  He  says  of  Israel :  *  In  all  their  affliction  He 
was  afflicted,  and  the  angel  of  His  presence  saved  them;  in 
His  love  and  in  His  pity  He  bare  them,  and  carried  them  all 
the  days  of  old.'  If  for  no  other  reason  than  the  pleasure 
it  will  give  to  God,  don't  you  think  every  Officer  should,  with 
all  his  might,  seek  for  Holiness  of  heart  and  life? 

"  Another  reason  why  God  wants  you  to  live  on  that  blessed 
mountain  is  the  interest  He  feels  in  your  welfare. 

"He  loves  you.  He  has  told  you  so  again  and  again.  He 
has  proved  His  love  by  His  deeds.  Love  compels  the  being 
entertaining  the  affection  to  seek  the  good  of  its  object.  He 
knows  that  sin  is  the  enemy  of  your  peace,  and  must  mean 
misery  here  and  hereafter.  For  this  reason  among  others. 
He  wants  to  deliver  you  from  it. 

"You  will  remember  that  by  the  lips  of  Peter  God  told 
the  Jews  that  He  had  raised  up  His  Son  Jesus,  and  sent  Him 
to  bless  them  by  turning  every  one  of  them  away  from  his 


306  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

iniquities.  That  applies  to  you,  my  comrades.  You  have 
heard  it  before;  I  tell  it  you  again.  Holiness  is  the  royal  road 
to  peace,  contentment,  and  joy  for  you.  The  love  God  bears 
you,  therefore,  makes  Him  ceaselessly  long  after  your  Holi- 
ness of  heart  and  life.  Will  you  not  let  Him  have  His  way? 
Will  you  not  do  His  Will? 

"  God  wants  every  Officer  to  be  holy,  in  order  that  through 
him  He  may  be  able  to  pour  His  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  people 
to  whom  that  Officer  ministers. 

"  The  men  and  women  around  you  are  in  the  dark.  Oh, 
how  ignorant  they  are  of  God  and  everlasting  things!  They 
cannot  see  the  vile  nature  of  the  evil,  and  the  foul  character 
of  the  fiends  that  tempt  and  rule  them.  They  do  not  see  the 
black  ruin  that  lies  before  them.  So  on  they  go,  the  blind 
leading  the  blind,  till  over  the  precipice  they  fall  together. 
God  wants  their  eyes  to  be  opened.  The  Spirit  can  do  the 
work,  and  through  you  He  wants  to  pour  the  light. 

"The  men  and  women  around  you  are  weak.  They  can- 
not stand  up  against  their  own  perverted  appetites,  the  charms 
of  the  world,  or  the  devices  of  the  Devil.  God  wants  to  pour 
the  Spirit  of  Power  upon  this  helpless  crowd.  But  He  wants 
holy  people  through  whom  He  can  convey  that  strength.  He 
works  His  miracles  by  clean  people.     That  is  His  rule. 

*'  There  is  nothing  in  the  work  of  the  early  Apostles  more 
wonderful  than  the  miraculous  manner  in  which  they  went 
about  breathing  the  Spirit  of  Life  and  Light  and  Power  on 
the  people.  But  they  were  fully  consecrated,  Blood-and-Fire 
men  and  women. 

"What  do  you  say,  my  comrades?  Will  you  be  holy  me- 
diums ?     Do  you  not  answer,  *  Thy  will  be  done  '  ? 

"  God  wants  you  to  be  holy,  in  order  that  you  may  reveal 
Him  to  the  world  by  your  example. 

"  Men  do  not  believe  in  God — that  is,  the  real  God — the 
God  of  the  Bible;  and  they  do  not  believe  in  Him,  because 
they  do  not  know  Him. 

"  He  seeks  to  reveal  Himself  to  men  in  various  ways.  He 
reveals  Himself  through  the  marvels  of  the  natural  world; 
and  many  say  they  can  see  God  in  the  sun,  aiid  stars,  and 
seas,  and  trees.  He  reveals  Himself  by  speaking  to  men  in 
their  own  hearts,  and  many  hear  His  whisperings  there.  He 
reveals  Himself  in  His  own  Book,  and  some  read  and  ascer- 
tain what  is  His  mind  there. 

"  But,   alas !    the   great   multitude   are   like    children.     They 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY  307 

require  to  see  and  hear  God  revealed  before  their  very  eyes 
in  visible  and  practical  form  before  they  will  believe.  And 
to  reach  these  crowds,  God  wants  men  and  women  to  walk 
about  the  world  so  that  those  around,  believers  and  unbe- 
lievers alike,  shall  see  the  form  and  hear  the  voice  of  the 
living  God;  people  who  shall  be  so  like  Him  in  spirit,  and 
life,  and  character  as  to  make  the  crowds  feel  as  though  the 
very  shadow  of  God  had  crossed  their  path.  Will  you  be  a 
shadow  of  God? 

"  God  wants  you  to  be  holy,  in  order  that  you  may  know 
what  His  mind  is  about  the  world,  and  about  your  work  in  it. 

"He  entertains  certain  opinions  and  feelings  with  respect 
to  it.  He  has  His  own  plan  for  saving  it.  He  wants  to  re- 
veal to  you  what  those  opinions  and  feelings  are,  and  to  do 
this  so  far  as  it  will  be  good  for  you  and  those  about  you. 
He  wants  you  to  know  how  you  can  best  fight  devils,  convict 
sinners,  save  souls,  and  bless  the  world. 

"You  can  have  this  wonderful  knowledge.  Paul  had  it. 
He  said  *  We,'  that  is,  I,  '  have  the  mind  of  Christ.'  God 
is  no  respecter  of  persons.  He  is  as  willing  to  reveal  His 
mind  to  you,  so  far  as  you  need  it,  as  He  was  to  reveal  it  to 
Paul. 

"  But  to  possess  this  knowledge  you  must  be  holy.  Sin 
darkens  the  understanding,  and  hinders  the  perception  of 
truth.  A  grain  of  sand  in  the  eye  will  prevent  you  seeing 
the  most  beautiful  landscape  in  the  universe,  or  the  dearest 
friends  you  have.  It  is  with  the  heart  that  men  see  divine 
things,  and  an  atom  of  sin  will  darken  the  brightest  vision 
that  can  come  before  you.  With  a  pure  heart  you  can  not 
only  see  God's  truth,  but  God  Himself.  Oh,  God  wants  to 
reveal  Himself  to  you.  Will  you  let  Him?  But  if  He  is 
to  do  so,  you  must  have  a  clean  heart. 

"  It  is  God's  will  that  you  should  be  holy,  because  He  wants 
you  to  be  men  and  women  of  courage. 

"Courage  is  the  most  valuable  quality  in  this  War.  There 
are  few  gifts  of  greater  importance.  Only  think  what  it  has 
enabled  the  Prophets,  the  Apostles,  and  the  Salvation  leaders 
of  modern  times  to  accomplish!  How  it  covered  Moses,  and 
Joshua,  and  David,  and  Daniel,  and  Paul,  and  a  crowd  of 
others  with  glory,  and  enabled  them  to  conquer  men,  and 
devils,  and  difficulties  of  all  kinds.  I  shall  have  something 
more  to  say  about  this  before  I  have  done. 

"Courage   and   Holiness   are   linked  closely   together.    You 


308  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

cannot  have  one  without  the  other.  Sin  is  the  very  essence 
of  weakness.  A  little  selfishness,  a' little  insincerity,  a  little 
of  anything  that  is  evil  means  condemnation,  and  loss  of 
courage,  which  means  cowardice  and   failure. 

"  *  The  wicked  flee  when  no  man  pursueth.'  Double-minded 
people  are  uncertain,  fickle,  unreliable  in  all  their  ways. 
*  The  righteous  are  bold  as  a  lion.'  Remember  Shadrach, 
Meshach,  Abednego. 

"  God  wants  you  to  be  holy,  in  order  that  He  may  do  mighty 
works  through  your  instrumentality. 

"I  verily  believe  that  His  arm  is  held  back  from  working 
wonders  through  the  agency  of  many  Officers,  because  He 
sees  that  such  success  would  be-  their  ruin.  The  spirit  of 
Nebuchadnezzar  is  in  them.  He  cannot  build  Babylon,  or 
London,  or  New  York,  or  anything  else  by  their  instrumen- 
tality, because  He  sees  it  would  create  the  spirit  of  vain- 
glory and  boasting,  or  of  ambition;  make  them  dissatisfied 
with  their  position;  or  otherwise  curse  them  and  those  about 
them.  Look  at  Saul.  What  a  lesson  his  history  has  in  it 
for  us  all.  *  When  thou  wast  little  in  thine  own  sight  wast 
thou  not  made  the  head  of  the  Tribes  of  Israel?  and  the  Lord 
anointed  thee  king  over  Israel.' 

"  Now,  I  may  be  asked  whether  some  Officers  do  not  fail 
to  reach  the  higher  ranges  of  the  experience  I  have  here  de- 
scribed, and  the  reasons   for  this. 

"  To  this  question  I  reply  that  I  am  afraid  that  it  is  only 
too  true  that  some  Officers  are  to  be  found  who  are  willing 
to  dwell  in  the  land  of  uncertainty  and  feebleness.  They  are 
the  slaves  of  habits  they  condemn  in  others.  Their  example 
is  marred,  their  powers  are  weakened  for  their  work,  and, 
instead  of  going  onward  and  upward  to  the  victory  they  be- 
lieve so  gloriously  possible,  they  are  a  disappointment  to  them- 
selves, to  God,  and  to  their  leaders. 

"If  I  am  asked  to  name  the  reasons  for  their  neglect  of 
this  glorious  privilege,  I  would  say: — 

"  They  have  doubts  about  the  possibility  of  living  this  life 
of  Holiness. 

"  They  think  there  is  some  fatal  necessity  laid  upon  them 
to  sin — at  least  a  little,  or  just  now  and  then.  They  think 
that  God  cannot,  or  that  He  will  not,  or  that  He  has  not  ar- 
ranged to  save  them  altogether  from  their  inward  evils. 
They  know  that  the  Bible  says,  over  and  over  again,  in  a 
thousand    different    ways,    that    the    Blood    of    Jesus    Christ 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY 

cleanses  from  all  sin;  and  they  read  God's  promise  again  and 
again,  that  He  will  pour  out  His  Spirit  upon  them,  to  save 
them  from  all  their  idols  and  filthiness;  but  they  doubt  whether 
it  is  strictly  true,  or  anyway,  whether  it  applies  to  them.  And 
so,  tossed  to  and  fro  by  doubts  about  this  holy  experience,  no 
wonder  that  they  do  not  seek  to  realise  it  in  their  own  hearts. 

"  Other  Officers  are  kept  back  from  climbing  this  mountain 
by  the  idea  that  the  experience  is  not  possible  for  them. 

"  They  say,  '  Oh,  yes,  it  is  good,  it  is  beautiful.  I  wish 
I  lived  up  there.  How  delightful  it  must  be  to  have  peace 
flow  like  a  river,  and  righteousness  abound  as  the  waves  of 
the  sea,  and  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit!  But  such  a  life  is 
not  for  me.'  They  admit  the  possibility  of  Holiness  in  those 
about  them,  and  occasionally  they  push  it  on  their  acceptance; 
but  they  fancy  that  there  is  something  about  their  own  case 
that  makes  it  impossible,  or,  at  least,  overwhelmingly  diffi- 
cult, for  them  to  attain  it. 

"  They  imagine  that  there  is  something  in  their  nature  that 
makes  it  peculiarly  difficult  for  them  to  be  holy.  Some  pe- 
culiar twist  in  their  minds.  Some  disagreeable  disposition. 
Some  bad,  awkward  temper.  Some  unbelieving  tendency. 
Or,  they  are  hindered  by  something  that  they  suppose  to  be 
specially  unfavourable  in  their  circumstances — their  family. 
Or,  there  is  something  in  their  history  that  they  think  is  op- 
posed to  their  living  pure  lives — they  have  failed  in  their  past 
efforts,  etc. 

"  Anyway,  there  is,  they  imagine,  some  insurmountable  ob- 
stacle to  their  walking  with  Christ  in  white,  and,  instead  of 
striking  out  for  the  summit  of  the  Holy  Mountain  in  desper- 
ate and  determined  search,  relying  on  God's  word  that  all 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth,  they  give  up,  and 
settle  down  to  the  notion  that  Holiness  of  heart  and  life  is 
not  for  them. 

"  Then,  other  Officers  do  not  reach  this  experience  because 
they  do  not  seek  it;  that  is,  they  do  not  seek  it  with  all  their 
hearts. 

"  They  do  not  climb. 

"  They  know  that  their  Bible  most  emphatically  asserts  that 
those  who  seek  heavenly  blessings  shall  find  them.  No  pas- 
sage is  more  familiar  to  their  minds  or  much  more  frequently 
on  their  lips,  than  the  one  spoken  by  Jesus  Christ :  *  Seek,  and 
ye  shall  find.'  And  they  condemn  the  poor  sinner  who  lies 
rotting  in  the  sins  which  will  carry  him  to  Hell,  because  he 


310  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

won't  put  forth  a  little  efifort  to  find  deliverance.  And  yet, 
do  not  some  Officers  act  very  much  after  the  same  fashion 
with  respect  to  this  blessing? 

"  In  their  efforts  they  are  truly  sincere,  but  they  are  not 
much  more  forward  for  them.  They  say  *  It  is  not  for  me,* 
and  settle  down  as  they  were. 

"  The  reason  for  this  is  not  that  the  promise  is  not  to  them. 
But  it  is  because  they  have  not  been  thorough  in  their  sur- 
render; or  because  they  have  been  wanting  in  their  belief; 
or  because  they  do  not  persevere;  or  because  they  have  been 
mistaken  in  some  past  experience: — 

"  Another  reason  why  Officers  do  not  find  the  blessing  is 
the  simple  fact  that  they  will  not  pay  the  price. 

"  There  is  something  they  will  not  do ;  or  there  is  some- 
thing they  will  do;  or  there  is  something  they  will  not  part 
with;  there  is  some  doubtful  thing  that  they  will  not  give  up. 
The  sacrifice  is  too  great.  They  think  they  would  not  be 
happy,  or  some  one  else  would  not  be  happy,  or  something 
would  not  be  satisfactory;  and  so  they  look  and  look  at  the 
mountain,  and  long  and  long,  but  that  is  all.  They  would 
like  to  be  there,  but  the  price  is  too  great. 

"Another  reason  why  Officers  fail  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  their  want  of  faith. 

"This,  with  sincere  souls,  is  by  far  the  most  common  hin- 
drance.    I  have  something  to  say  about  faith  further  on. 

"And,  doubtless,  the  reason  that  some  Officers  fail  to  reach 
the  upper  levels  of  Mount  Purity  arises  out  of  their  mistaken 
views  as  to  the  nature  of  this  experience. 

"  You  have  so  often  heard  me  dwell  on  this  view  of  the 
subject  that  I  despair  of  saying  anything  fresh  that  will  help 
you.  But,  knowing  that  I  am  on  ground  where  truly  sincere 
souls  are  often  hindered,  I  will  make  one  or  two  remarks: — 

"I  have  no  doubt  that  many  fail  here  by  confounding 
temptation  with  sin. 

"  They  pray — they  consecrate — ^they  believe  that  they  re- 
ceive, and  they  rejoice.  But  by  and  by,  when  bad  thoughts 
are  suggested  to  their  minds,  they  say  to  themselves,  *  Oh,  I 
can't  be  saved  from  sin,  or  I  would  not  have  all  those  wicked 
thoughts  and  suggestions  streaming  through  my  soul.'* 

"  They  confound  temptation  with  sin.  Whatever  they  may 
say  about  it,  they  do  not  see  the  difference  existing  between 
temptation  and  sin. 

"  Some  Officers  are  hindered  in  the  fight   for  Holiness  by 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  ARMY  311 

supposing  that  purity  will  deliver  them  from  serious  depres- 
sion,  low  spirits,   and  the   like. 

"  With  many  sincere  souls  I  have  no  doubt  that  one  of  the 
most  serious  hindrances  in  this  strife  is  the  confounding  of 
Holiness  with  happiness,  and  thinking  that  if  they  are  holy 
they  will  be  happy  all  the  time;  whereas  the  Master  Him- 
self was  a  Man  of  Sorrows,  and  lived,  more  or  less,  a  life  of 
grief. 

"Then  there  comes  the  last  reason  I  shall  notice,  and  that 
is  the  want  of  perseverance.  There  are  some  Officers  who 
have  been  up  the  mountain — part  of  the  way,  at  any  rate,  if 
not  to  the  top.  But  through  disobedience,  or  want  of  faith, 
they  have  no  longer  the  experience  they  once  enjoyed. 

"The  condition.  You  say  to  sinners  that  they  are  never 
to  give  up.  I  do,  at  least.  So  with  those  who  are  seeking 
Holiness.    They  must  persevere  or  they  will  never  find  it." 


Chapter  KXVIII 

THE  GENERAL  AS  A  WRITER 

None  of  us  have  yet  any  idea  how  voluminous  a  writer 
The  General  was,  because  so  much  of  his  writing  was  in 
the  form  of  contributions  to  our  many  publications,  or  of 
letters  to  Officers. 

We  can  only  insert  here  a  few.  specimens  of  what  he 
wrote  at  various  dates,  and  remark  that  in  private  letters 
there  was  always  the  very  same  flow  of  happy  earnest  life, 
the  same  high  ideal  as  finds  expression  in  the  following 
extracts.  In  his  Orders  and  Regulations  for  Field  Officers 
he  says: — 

"It  must  always  be  remembered  by  the  Field  Officer,  and 
by  every  one  who  is  desirous  of  producing  any  great  moral 
cr  spiritual  changes  in  men,  that  the  example  of  the  indi- 
vidual attempting  this  task  will  be  much  more  powerful  than 
the  doctrines  they  set  forth,  or  any  particular  methods  they 
adopt  for  teaching  those  doctrines,  however  impressive  these 
may  be. 

"  The  correctness  of  this  statement  has  been  proved  over 
and  over  again  in  this  Salvation  War.  Everywhere  the  peo- 
ple measure  the  truth  and  importance  of  what  the  Field  Offi- 
cer says  by  their  estimate  of  his  character.  If  he  produces 
the  impression  in  their  minds  that  he  is  a  mere  talker  or  per- 
former, they  may  listen  to  his  message,  and — if  he  has  more 
than  ordinary  ability — treat  him  with  a  degree  of  respect; 
but  if  this  be  all,  he  will  be  next  to  powerless  in  effecting  any 
great  change  in  their  hearts  and  lives.  On  the  other  hand, 
where  the  life  of  the  Field  Officer  convinces  his  Soldiers  that 
he  is  himself  what  he  wants  them  to  be,  truly  devoted  to 
God,  it  will  be  found  that  he  will  possess  a  marvellous  mastery 
over  their  hearts  and  characters.  In  other  words,  if  he 
makes  his  Soldiers  feel  that  he  is  real  and  consecrated,  he 
will  be  able  to  lead  them  almost  at  will;  they  will  follow  him 
to  the  death. 

312 


THE  GENERAL  AS  A  WRITER  313 

"  The  same  shot,  with  the  same  charge  of  gunpowder,  from 
a  rifled  cannon,  will  produce  ten  times  a  greater  effect  than 
from  one  with  a  smooth  bore.  The  make  of  the  gun  gives 
the  extra  force  to  the  shot.  Just  in  the  same  way  the  truth 
from  the  lips  of  a  man  whom  his  hearers  believe  to  be  holy 
and  true  will  strike  with  a  hundredfold  more  force  than  the 
same  message  will  from  another  who  has  not  so  commended 
himself.  The  character  of  the  man  gives  the  extra  force  to 
the  truth. 

"  The  Field  Officer,  by  virtue  of  his  position,  stands  out 
before  his  Soldiers  more  prominently  than  any  other  man. 
To  them  he  is  the  Ambassador  and  Representative  of  God. 
He  is  their  Captain,  their  Brother,  and  Friend.  Their  eyes 
are  on  him  night  and  day.  They  regard  him  as  the  pattern 
expressly  set  for  them  to  copy,  the  leader  who  at  all  times 
it  is  their  bounden  duty  to  follow. 

"  How  important  it  is,  therefore,  that  every  Officer  should 
be  careful  to  perfect  his  character  to  the  utmost  in  order  that 
he  may  be  useful  to  the  fullest  extent. 

"The  Field  Officer  must  lead  his  Soldiers  on  to  the  full 
realisation  of  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  he  must  make 
them  Blood  and  Fire.  The  work  of  the  Spirit  is  to  fill  the 
soul  with  burning  zeal  for  the  Salvation  of  the  world. 
Christ's  work  must  be  finished.  He  has  left  that  task  to  His 
people;  it  can  only  be  continued  and  carried  on  to  completion 
by  His  Spirit  working  in  the  hearts  and  through  the  lives  of 
His  people.  The  Holy  Ghost  was  promised  for  this  end. 
This  is  what  His  people  have,  therefore,  a  right  to  expect,  and 
without  it  they  are  powerless  for  the  War. 

"In  order  that  his  Soldiers  may  be  effective,  the  Field 
Officer  must  not  only  act  for  the  purification  of  his  Soldiers, 
but  to  have  them  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  in  order 
that  they  may  be  competent  for  the  mighty  work  they  have 
to  accomplish. 

"  This  will  make  them  wise.  They  will  understand  how 
to  fight,  what  to  say,  what  to  sing,  how  to  pray,  and  how  to 
talk  to  the  consciences  and  hearts  of  men.  The  Spirit  of 
God  will  lead  them  into  right  methods  of  action,  will  show 
them  how  to  make  opportunities,  and  how  to  put  these  oppor- 
tunities to  the  best  use,  when  they  are  made. 

"  The  Holy  Spirit  will  give  them  perseverance,  keeping 
them  going  on  in  the  face  of  difficulty. 

"  The    Holy    Spirit    will    give    them    power,    making    them 


314  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

not    only   willing   to   endure    the    Cross,    but   to   glory    in    it. 

"  The  Holy  Spirit  will  give  them  the  fire  of  love,  the 
seraphic  spirit,  the  live  coal  from  off  the  altar,  making  them 
both  burn  and  shine.  With  this  they  will  come  to  Knee- 
Drill,  to  the  Open-Air,  to  face  mocking  crowds,  and  to  en- 
dure the  scorn,  and  hatred,  and  persecution  of  men;  not 
merely  from  a  sense  of  duty,  dragging  themselves  to  it,  be- 
cause it  is  the  will  of  God;  or  for  the  good  of  The  Army;  or 
as  an  example  to  their  comrades;  or  even  for  the  Salvation 
of  souls;  but  because  they  love  it,  and  cannot  stay  away. 

"  This  baptism  will  be  a  fire  in  their  bones,  which  must 
have  vent.  It  will  be  a  spirit  that  must  have  a  voice.  It 
will  be  a  love,  a  burning  love  in  the  heart,  which  all  the 
waters  that  earth  and  Hell  can  pour  upon  it,  cannot  quench 
a  love  with  which  no  other  love  can  compare.  It  will  be  the 
Saviour  again  loving  a  dying  world  through  His  people.  It 
will  be  Christ  indeed  come  again  in  the  flesh. 

"  The  Soldiers  must  be  baptised  with  fire.  It  will  give  them 
the  Soldier's  spirit;  and,  with  that,  all  a  Soldier  needs  in  the 
way  of  drill,  and  duty,  and  sacrifice  will  inevitably  follow. 

In  his  Letter  to  his  Officers  on  his  Eightieth  Birthday, 
he  wrote: — 

"On  the  coming  loth  of  April,  in  many  lands  and  in  many 
ways,  the  Officers,  Soldiers,  and  Friends  of  The  Salvation 
Army  will  -be  celebrating  my  Eightieth   Birthday. 

"The  occasion  is  one  which  inspires  in  me  many  deep 
emotions;  and,  next  to  the  gratitude  I  feel  to  Almighty  God 
for  the  unmeasured  blessings  He  has  been  pleased  to  vouch- 
safe to  me,  I  find  the  desire  to  write  and  tell  you,  my  dear 
Officers,  something  of  the  love  and  sympathy  ever  welling 
up  in  my  heart  towards  you. 

"  The  times  and  friends  of  long  ago  are  sometimes  said 
to  have  been  brighter  or  better  than  those  of  to-day.  This 
may  have  been  the  experience  of  some.  It  has  not  been  mine. 
It  is  true  that  in  the  early  years  of  my  Salvation  Warfare 
there  were  battlings  and  victories  of  deep  interest  and  value, 
but  no  conflicts  or  triumphs  in  those  far-back  times  exceeded, 
or  indeed  equalled,  in  value  and  interest  the  conflicts  and  tri- 
umphs of  my  later  days. 

"It  is  true  that  from  the  beginning  I  have  been  associated 
with    many    remarkable    men    and   women — men    and    women 


THE  GENERAL  AS  A  WRITER  315 

whose  ability,  affection,  and  devotion  to  God  have  been  of  the 
greatest  service  to  me.  But  with,  perhaps,  one  or  two  excep- 
tions, I  have  had  no  co-workers  who  have  excelled,  or  even 
equalled,  in  ability,  in  affection  or  devotion,  the  Comrades 
who  at  the  present  hour  are  struggling  with  me  all  over  the 
world  for  the  highest  well-being  of  their  fellows,  and  for  the 
advancement  of  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Sixty-five  years  ago  I  chose  the  Salvation  of  men  and  the 
extension  of  the  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  supreme 
object  for  which  I  would  live  and  labour. 

"  Although  that  choice  was  made  in  my  early  youth,  in 
much  ignorance  of  the  world,  and  of  the  religious  needs  of 
those  about  me,  still,  it  was  not  arrived  at  without  much 
thought  and  some  information;  and  that  purpose  is  still,  and 
will  be  to  the  end,  the  object  which  has  shaped  and  mastered 
the  thoughts,  ambitions,  and  activities  of  my  whole  life. 

"  From  the  hour  of  my  first  Prayer  Meetings  in  one  of  the 
cottage  homes  of  my  native  town,  down  to  the  present  mo- 
ment, that  object  has  been  the  governing  principle  of  my  life. 
The  adornments  and  flowers  and  music  and  other  pleasant 
things  connected  with  religious  service  have  all  been  sec- 
ondary to  efficiency  in  the  search  for  that  object  and  success 
in  attaining  it. 

"My  hourly  usage  with  regard  to  every  effort  I  put  forth 
has  been  to  ask  myself:  What  does  this  action  contemplate? 
What  will  it  achieve?  Can  it  be  improved  upon?  I  believe 
I  can  say  that  every  conversation  and  prayer  and  song  and 
address  and  Meeting  I  have  had  a  hand  in  have  been  valued 
in  proportion  to  their  ability  to  promote  the  realisation  of 
that  great  purpose. 

"  No  greater  mistake  can  be  made  with  respect  to  The 
Salvation  Army  than  to  suppose  that  it  is  not  a  school  for 
thought.  Perhaps  more  theories  have  been  produced  and 
more  schemes  invented  by  us  for  gaining  the  highest  ends 
of  the  Christian  faith  (bearing  in  mind  our  age  and  the  ex- 
tent of  our  work)  than  by  any  other  religious  movement  in 
existence.  Indeed,  as  I  have  often  said  in  public,  when  we 
have  so  many  thousands  of  hearts  inflamed  with  the  love  of 
Christ  for  sinning,  suffering,  and  dying  men,  and  possessed 
with  a  passionate  desire  for  their  rescue,  you  must  have  the 
constant  evolution  of  new  plans  and  contrivances  for  that 
purpose. 

"  But,   while   thus   inventive,   The   Army   does   not   content 


316  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

itself  with  hopes  and  theories  merely;  it  seeks  to  put  every 
fresh  idea  to  the  test  of  practical  application,  waiting  for 
the  issue,  before  it  regards  it  of  permanent  value.  At  least, 
that  has  been  my  own  usage,  and  the  practical  character  of 
my  mind  and  work  has  come  to  be  generally  allowed. 

"While,  then,  I  glory  in  the  fact  that  our  religion  is  Divine 
in  origin  and  manifestation,  I  equally  maintain  the  necessity 
for  human  skill,  human  energy,  and  human  enterprise,  in  the 
efforts  put  forth  to  establish  and  extend  it;  and,  accordingly, 
I  have  only  adopted  any  efforts  so  far  as  they  have  proved 
themselves  effective  in  the  school  of  experience. 

"  So  with  this  confidence  in  my  convictions  I  proceed  once 
more  to  push  them  upon  your  attention." 

In  the  Orders  and  Regulations  for  Soldiers,  perhaps 
the  concisest  description  of  earnest  living  ever  written,  he 
says : — 

"  The  Salvation  Soldier  must  have  been  converted  or 
changed  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  the  old, 
worldly,  selfish,  sinful  nature,  to  the  new,  holy,  heavenly, 
Divine  nature;  and  not  only  must  he  thus  have  received  a 
new  heart,  but  he  must  have  the  Holy  Spirit  living  in  that 
heart,  possessing  it,  and  working  through  it,  to  will  and  to 
do  the  good  pleasure  of  God. 

"This  is  the  first  and  main  condition  of  Soldiership.  It 
is  understood  that  every  Soldier  has  come  into  the  posses- 
sion of  this  true  Religion  by  passing  through  that  change 
which  is  usually  described  in  The  Army  as  being  '  saved.' 
There  is  nothing  more  common  throughout  our  ranks  than 
the  expression,  *  I  am  glad  I  am  saved ! ' 

"As  it  is  impossible  for  a  Salvation  Soldier  to  perform  the 
duties  hereafter  set  forth  with  satisfaction  to  himself,  and 
profit  to  others,  unless  this  change  has  been  experienced,  it 
will  be  well  to  describe  it  rather  particularly,  so  that  every 
Soldier  who  reads  these  Regulations  will  be  able  to  satisfy 
himself  whether  he  has  really  undergone  this  change. 

"If  on  reading  this  description,  any  Soldier  should  have 
reason  to  believe  that  he  has  not  experienced  this  change, 
and  is  still  in  his  sins,  or  that  he  has  been  unfaithful  since 
he  did  realise  it,  and  is,  therefore,  a  backslider,  the  first  busi- 
ness of  such  an  one  will  be  to  go  to  God  and  seek  Station; 


THE  GENERAL  AS  A  WRITER  317 

otherwise  it  will  be  impossible  for  him  to  be  a  good  Soldier. 

"  Salvation  implies  the  devotion  of  the  whole  life  to  the 
accomplishment  of  the  purpose  for  which  Christ  lived  and 
suffered  and  died.  It  means  that  the  Soldier  becomes  His 
disciple. 

"  Enlisting  in  His  Army,  the  Soldier  receives  not  only  power 
to  walk  in  His  commandments  for  himself,  but  to  subdue  other 
men  to  the  Lord. 

"  His  new  nature  now  continually  cries  out,  *  What  wilt 
Thou  have  me  to  do  ? '  and  carries  him  forth  with  the  feet 
of  cheerful  obedience  in  the  service  of  his  new  Master,  to 
weep  and  suffer,  and,  if  necessary,  to  die,  to  bring  others  into 
the  enjoyment  of  the  Salvation  which  he  himself  has  found. 
He  lives  the  same  kind  of  life  and  is  actuated  by  the  same 
purposes  as  God  Himself." 

In  Religion  for  Every  Day  he  writes : — 

"  I  am  always  talking  to  you  about  what  we  call  religious 
duties,  such  as  praying  and  singing,  making  efforts  to  save 
your  own  soul  and  the  souls  of  the  people  about  you.  In 
these  letters  I  propose  speaking  of  the  things  that  men  call 
secular,  and  which  many  people  reckon  have  nothing  to  do 
with  Religion.  But  I  want  to  show  you,  if  I  can,  that  the 
Salvationist's  conduct  ought,  in  every  particular,  to  be  reli- 
gious; every  meal  he  partakes  of  should  be  a  sacrament;  and 
every  thought  and  deed  a  service  done  to  God.  In  doing  this 
you  will  see  that  I  shall  have  to  deal  with  many  quite  com- 
monplace subjects;  and,  in  talking  about  them,  I  shall  try 
to  be  as  simple  and  as  practical  as  I  possibly  can. 

"The  first  topic  to  which  I  shall  call  your  attention  is 
your  daily  employment,  and  by  that  I  mean  the  method  by 
which  you  earn  your  livelihood.  Or,  supposing  that,  having 
some  independent  means  of  support,  you  are  not  compelled 
to  labour  for  your  daily  bread,  then  I  shall  point  out  that 
special  form  of  work,  the  doing  of  which  Providence  has 
plainly  made  to  be  your  duty.  Because  it  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive of  any  Salvationist  who  has  not  some  regular  employ- 
ment, for  which  he  holds  himself  responsible  to  God 

"Work  is  a  good  thing,  my  comrades.  To  be  unemployed 
is  generally  counted  an  evil — any  way,  it  is  so  in  the  ease 
of  a  poor  man;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  the  obligation  to  be 


318  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

engaged  in  some  honourable  and  useful  kind  of  labour  is  as 
truly  devolved  upon  the  rich  as  upon  the  poor,  perhaps  more 
so.  Work  is  necessary  to  the  well-being  of  men  and  women 
of  every  class,  everywhere.  To  be  voluntarily  idle,  in  any 
rank  or  condition  of  life,  is  to  be  a  curse  to  others  and  to  be 
accursed  yourself. 

"You  would  utterly  condemn  me  if  you  thought  that  I 
engaged  in  my  work  in  The  Army  merely  to  make  a  good 
show,  or  for  some  personal  profit,  and  did  not  care  about 
what  God  thought  of  the  matter.  My  comrades,  there  are 
not  two  different  standards  of  work — one  for  you  and  one 
for  me.  You  must,  therefore,  be  under  the  same  obligation 
to  do  your  work  in  the  house  or  in  the  mine  or  in  the  ware- 
house, or  wherever  the  Providence  of  God  has  placed  you,  to 
please  your  Heavenly  Master,  as  I  am  on  the  platform,  ia 
the  council  chamber,  or  wherever  my  duty  may  call  me. 

"  But  here  another  question  arises.  Do  you  accept  Jesus 
Christ  as  your  Master  in  the  affairs  of  your  daily  life?  If 
not,  of  course,  this  part  of  my  argument  will  be  thrown  away; 
but  if  you  do,  then  it  will  be  the  most  powerful  of  all. 

"At  the  commencement  of  His  ministry,  Jesus  Christ  an- 
nounced that  He  was  about  to  establish  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  on  the  earth.  By  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  He  meant 
a  Kingdom  consisting  of  heavenly  government,  heavenly  laws, 
heavenly  obedience,  heavenly  power,  heavenly  love,  heavenly 
joy.  These,  taken  together,  constitute  the  chief  characteris- 
tics of  this  Kingdom,  and  instead  of  being  confined,  as  it  had 
been  hitherto,  to  a  handful  of  people  in  Jerusalem  and  Judea, 
it  was  to  cover  the  whole  earth. 

"Now  the  subjects  of  that  Kingdom  must  accept  Jesus 
Christ  as  their  Master  and  Lord.  No  one  can  either  come 
into  that  Kingdom  or  remain  in  it  without  compliance  witk 
this  law.    You  cannot  be  a  son  without  being  a  servant. 

"  But  you  have  written  yourselves  down  as  His  servants, 
and  said  you  will  *  no  longer  live  unto  yourselves,*  nor  to 
please  the  world,  but  to  do  the  will  of  Him  who  has  redeemed 
you;  that  is,  to  please  Him.  Now  the  Master's  province, 
everybody  knows,  is,  not  only  to  choose  the  work  of  His 
servants,  but  to  get  it  done,  if  possible,  to  His  satisfaction. 

"He  has  appointed  me  my  work.  He  has  arranged  that  I 
should  direct  the  movements  of  this  great  Army,  preach  Sal- 
vation, write  Letters  for  you  to  read,  save  as  many  sinners 
as  I  can,  and  strive  to  get  my  Soldiers  safely  landed  on  the 


THE  GENERAL  AS  A  WRITER  819 

Celestial  Shore.  Before  all  else,  I  must  do  this  Work,  as 
nearly  as  I  can,  to  satisfy  my  Lord — and  nothing  short  of  the 
best  work  I  can  produce  will  accomplish  that. 

"And  as  with  me  so  with  you.  He  has  chosen  your  work, 
if  you  have  put  your  life  into,  His  hands,  just  as  truly  as  He 
has  chosen  mine,  although  it  may  be  of  a  different  kind.  I 
am  writing  this  letter  in  the  train.  I  am  a  poor  writer  at 
best.  When  I  was  a  child  my  schoolmaster  neglected  to  teach 
me  to  hold  my  pen  properly.  In  this  respect  he  did  not  do 
good  work,  and  I  have  had  to  suffer  for  it  ever  since.  Still, 
I  am  doing  my  work  as  well  as  I  can,  in  order  that  it  may 
profit  you  and  please  my  Lord. 

"In  settling  how  much  work  he  will  do,  a  man  must  have 
due  regard  to  the  claims  of  his  own  health.  If  he  rushes  at 
his  work  without  due  discretion,  and  does  more  than  his 
strength  will  reasonably  allow,  he  will  probably  break  down, 
and  so  prevent  his  working  altogether,  or  for  a  season,  at 
least.  Whereas,  if  he  exhausts  no  more  energy  than  he  can 
recover  by  sleep  and  food  and  rest,  at  the  time  he  can  go 
steadily  forward,  and  by  doing  so,  accomplish  a  great  deal 
more,  in  the  long  run,  than  he  would  by  temporary  extrava- 
gant exertion.  When  speaking  on  this  subject,  I  sometimes 
say  that  I  use  my  body  as  I  should  use  a  horse,  if  I  had  one — 
that  is,  I  should  not  seek  to  get  the  most  labour  out  of  him 
for  a  week,  regardless  of  the  future,  but  I  should  feed  and 
manage  him  with  a  view  to  getting  the  most  I  could  get  out 
of  him  all  the  year  round.  That  is,  doubtless,  the  way  a  man 
should  use  his  body,  and  to  do  this  he  should  take  as  much 
time  for  his  food  and  daily  rest  as  is  necessary  to  replace  the 
energies  he  has  used  up  by  his  work. 

"  In  the  leisure  taken  for  this  purpose,  it  will  be  necessary 
to  have  specified  hours,  as  otherwise,  those  who  are  without 
principle  will  take  advantage  of  the  weak,  and  anything  like 
system  will  be  impossible. 

"Then,  again,  when  the  proper  performance  of  a  particu- 
lar task  depends  upon  the  united  labour  of  a  number  of  in- 
dividuals, who  have  agreed  to  work  in  co-operation,  it  will 
be  necessary,  in  the  interests  of  the  whole,  that  each  should 
conform  to  the  regulations  laid  down,  always  supposing  that 
such  rules  are  in  harmony  with  truth  and  righteousness. 

"  The  wishes  and  interests  of  employers  have  also  to  be 
taken  into  consideration.  But,  in  every  case,  the  principle 
is  equally  obligatory  upon  all. 


320  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

"  These  duties  will  demand,  and  must  have  devoted  to  them, 
a  measure  of  the  time  at  our  control.  What  that  amount  of 
time  shall  be,  must  be  determined  by  the  relative  importance 
of  those  duties.     For  instance: — 

"  There  is  the  vy^ork  a  man  can  do  for  his  earthly  employ- 
ers, over  and  above  the  amount  that  is  considered  to  be  a 
strict  and  just  return  for  his  wages.  Here,  again,  he  must 
be  guided  by  Jesus  Christ's  rule,  and  to  do  unto  his  master 
as  he  would  that  his  master  should  do  unto  him. 

"  There  is  the  work  that  he  ought  to  do  for  his  family, 
apart  and  beyond  the  bare  earnings  of  their  daily  bread. 
This  is  work  which  no  one  else  can  do  so  well,  and  which, 
if  it  be  neglected  by  him,  will  probably  not  be  done  at  all. 

"  There  is  the  effort  that  every  workman  should  put  forth 
for  his  own  personal  improvement.  For  instance,  a  youth  of 
seventeen  works,  we  will  say,  ten  hours  a  day  for  his  em- 
ployer, who  would  very  much  like  him  to  put  in  another  hour 
at  the  same  task,  and  would  be  willing  to  pay  him  extra  for 
doing  so.  This,  we  will  suppose,  the  youth  could  do  without 
any  injurious  effect  to  his  health.  But  then,  by  reading  his 
Bible,  or  cultivating  his  mind,  he  might  qualify  himself  to 
become  an  Officer,  or  to  fill  some  other  important  position,  in 
either  case  fitting  himself  for  a  field  of  greater  usefulness,  in 
the  future,  than  the  one  he  already  occupies.  Under  such 
circumstances,  it  must  be  the  duty  of  that  youth  to  take  that 
hour  for  his  own  improvement,  rather  than  to  use  it  to  en- 
rich his  master  or  increase  his  earnings. 

"Then,  every  Soldier  of  Jesus  Christ  must  duly  consider 
and  obey  the  claims  of  the  Salvation  War.  That  is,  he  must 
strive  to  take  his  fair  share  in  that  conflict.  Whether  he 
is  his  own  master,  having  the  direct  control  of  his  time,  or 
whether  he  works  for  an  employer,  who  only  allows  him  so 
many  hours  for  leisure,  he  must  conscientiously  devote  as 
much  of  that  time  as  he  can  to  saving  his  fellow-men.  In 
settling  this  question,  he  must  use  his  common  sense,  and 
claim  the  promised  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  God  will 
guide  him. 

"What  I  protest  against  here  is  the  notion,  born  of  indo- 
lence and  selfishness,  which  affirms  that  we  should  do  as 
little,  rather  than  as  much,  work  as  is  consistent  with  the 
maintenance  of  health,  and  with  the  claims  arising  out  of  the 
relations  in  which  we  stand  to  those  about  us. 

"However,  circumstances  will  transpire,  during  the  earthly 


c^^tvvif    hUvfc  ^^'Ji^^ 


Cape  Town, 

Of/o^fr  12,  1908 

AN    AUTOGRAPH    MESSAGE    FROM    THE    GENERAL 


THE  GENERAL  AS  A  WRITER  321 

career  of  every  one  of  us,  calling  for  self-sacrificing  work 
that  must  be  performed,  regardless  of  consequences  to  health 
or  any  other  interest. 

"  Supposing,  by  way  of  illustration,  a  ship  has  sprung  a 
leak,  through  which  the  water  is  rushing  rapidly  in,  endan- 
gering the  lives  of  both  the  passengers  and  crew.  Under 
such  conditions,  would  not  every  man  on  board  be  justified 
in  working  night  and  day  to  prevent  the  threatened  calamity? 
Nay,  further,  would  not  the  laws  of  humanity  call  upon  every 
one  concerned  to  do  so  at  the  risk  of  crippling  themselves, 
or  even  sacrificing  life  itself,  in  order  to  gain  the  greater 
good  of  saving  the  vessel  from  destruction,  and  rescuing  a 
number  of  their  fellows  from  a  watery  grave? 

"My  contention  then,  is,  that  whether  in  the  shop  or  on 
the  ship,  in  the  parlour  or  in  the  kitchen,  in  the  factory  or 
in  the  field,  on  the  Salvation  platform  or  in  the  coal  mine, 
whether  Officers  or  Soldiers,  we  are  all  alike,  as  servants  of 
God,  under  the  obligation  to  do  all  we  possibly  can  in  the 
service  of  men;  and  to  do  it  with  the  holy  motive  of  pleasing 
our  Heavenly  Master. 

"Here  let  me  review  my  warrant  for  requiring  from  you 
the  kind  of  loving  labour  that  I  advocate. 

"The  Bible  enjoins  it.  .We  have  already  quoted  Paul's 
words  to  the  Ephesians,  in  which  he  says  that  our  work  is  to 
be  done,  *  Not  with  eye-service  as  men-pleasers,  but  as  the 
servants  of  Christ,  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the  heart; 
with  goodwill  doing  service,  as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  to  men.' 
That  is  all  I  ask  for. 

"It  is  enjoined  by  the  doctrine  of  brotherly  love.  I  can- 
not understand  how  any  one  can  suppose,  for  a  moment,  that 
he  is  living  a  life  acceptable  to  God  unless  he  is  striving,  with 
all  his  might,  to  fulfil  the  Divine  command,  'Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbour  as  thyself.'  Your  master,  or  whoever  has  a 
claim  upon  your  service,  must  be  included  in  the  term 
*  neighbour';  and  to  comply  with  the  command  of  the  Saviour, 
you  must  work  for  that  master,  or  mistress,  as  the  case  may 
be,  from  the  voluntary  principle  of  love  rather  than  the 
earthly  and  selfish  principle  of  gain. 

"Is  not  the  disinterested  method  I  am  urging  upon  you 
in  keeping  with  the  loftiest  ideals  the  world  possesses  with 
respect  to  work?  About  whom  does  it  write  its  poetry? 
Whom  does  it  laud  to  the  heavens  in  the  pulpit,  on  the  plat- 
form, and  in  the  Press?    Whose  names  does  it  describe  the 


322  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

highest  in  its  Temples  of  Fame,  or  hand  down  to  posterity 
as  examples  for  rich  and  poor,  old  and  young  alike,  to  fol- 
low? Is  it  the  man  who  makes  his  own  ease  and  enrich- 
ment his  only  aim  in  life,  and  who  toils  and  spins  for  noth- 
ing higher  than  his  own  gratification?  Nothing  of  the  kind. 
It  is  the  generous,  self-sacrificing,  disinterested  being  who 
uses  himself  up  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellows. 

"  Nay,  at  whom  does  that  same  world  ceaselessly  sneer,  and 
whom  does  it  most  pitilessly  despise?  Is  it  not  the  mean  and 
narrow  spirit  whose  conduct  is  governed  by  selfish  greed 
and  sensual  indulgences?  Whatever  may  be  its  practice,  in 
this  respect,  the  sentiment  of  the  world  is  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. It  asks  for  benevolence  evidenced  by  unselfish  labour, 
and  admires  it  when  it  finds  it. 

"A  paragraph  went  the  round  of  the  newspaper  world,  a 
little  time  back,  describing  how  an  American  millionaire  had 
decided  to  spend  the  rest  of  his  days  on  a  Leper  Island  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  in  order  to  labour  for  the  amelioration  of  the 
miseries  of  its  unfortunate  inhabitants.  Wonder  and  admira- 
tion everywhere  greeted  the  announcement. 

"  Shall  we  go  back  on  all  this  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  ? 
Shall  this  kind  of  thing  die  out,  or  only  have  an  existence 
in  poetry  books,  platform  quotations,  or  anecdote  collections? 
Shall  we  change  over  to  the  *  pound-of-flesh  *  principle,  and 
hire  out  the  work  of  our  hands,  the  thoughts  of  our  minds, 
and  the  burning  passions  of  our  souls,  for  the  largest  amount 
of  filthy  lucre,  and  the  greatest  measure  of  earthly  comfort, 
that  we  can  obtain  for  them;  so  justifying  the  lying  libel  on 
humanity,  long  since  spoken,  and  still  often  sneeringly  quoted, 
that  every  man  has  his  price?  Or  shall  we  say  that  love — 
the  love  of  God  and  man — is  the  highest  and  divinest  motive 
of  labour — a  motive  possible  not  only  to  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  genius,  but  accessible  to  the  plainest,  humblest  man  or 
woman  who  suffers  and  toils  on  the  lowest  round  of  the  lad- 
der of  life. 

"I  argue  in  favour  of  this  doctrine  on  the  ground  of  its 
profitableness  to  the  worker.  My  readers  will  probably  have 
asked  long  before  this.  How  far  do  these  propositions  har- 
monise with  the  interests  of  the  servant?  Ought  he  not  to 
take  his  own  well-being  into  account?  Certainly.  He  must 
have  just  as  true  a  regard  for  his  own  welfare  and  the  wel- 
fare of  those  dependent  upon  him,  as  he  has  for  that  of 
others.    The   command,   'Thou   shalt  love  thy   neighbour   as 


THE  GENERAL  AS  A  WRITER  323 

thyself/  can  only  be  rightly  interpreted  by  another,  like  unto 
it,  which  reads:  'Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do 
to  you  do  ye  even  so  to  them.'  Therefore,  he  must  ask,  that 
others  should  do  unto  him  as  he  would  do  unto  them,  sup- 
posing they  occupied  changed  positions.  This  must  mean 
that,  while  righteously  concerned  for  the  interests  of  others, 
he  must  be  reasonably  concerned  for  his  own. 

"But  here  a  little  difficulty  comes  into  our  argument,  aris- 
ing out  of  the  play  of  the  higher  motives  of  affection.  What 
does  love  care  for  gain  in  its  calculations  of  service?  The 
husband  who  loves  his  wife  as  Christ  loved  the  Church,  does 
not  stop  to  consider  the  claims  of  duty,  or  the  advantages 
following  its  discharge  in  toiling  for  her  welfare.  He  will 
be  willing  to  die  for  her,  as  Christ  died  for  the  Church. 

"  He  does  not  say,  *  I  will  toil  for  my  delicate  wife,  and 
deny  myself  pleasant  things,  in  order  to  obtain  for  her  the 
necessaries  and  comforts  she  requires,  because  she  would  do 
the  same  for  me,  if  I  were  in  her  place  and  she  in  mine/ 
Nothing  of  the  kind!  The  wife  I  spoke  of,  who  told  me  the 
other  day  that  she  had  not  had  her  clothes  off  for  seventeen 
days  and  nights  in  nursing  her  husband  did  not  make  it  ap- 
pear that  she  thought  she  was  doing  anything  extraordinary, 
or  that  she  rendered  this  service  to  her  companion  in  life 
because  she  felt  sure  that  had  he  been  the  wife  and  she  the 
husband,  he  would  have  gladly  done  the  same  for  her. 

"  Had  the  newspapers  thought  that  the  American  million- 
aire was  going  to  the  Leper  Island,  with  his  gold,  to  make 
something  out  of  it  for  himself  and  family,  or  to  make  a 
name  in  the  world,  instead  of  his  being  greeted  with  a  chorus 
of  admiration,  there  would  have  been  a  universal  chorus  of 
execration  at  his  selfishness.  It  was  because  they  believed 
that  he  was  going  to  make  the  sacrifice  of  his  own  gain,  if 
not  of  his  own  self,  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  sufferers,  that 
they  praised  him. 

"  Supposing,  however,  that  we  come  down  to  the  low  level 
of  self-interest,  we  insist  then,  that  those  who  work  from  the 
motive  of  love,  rather  than  the  motive  of  gain,  will  not  neces- 
sarily be  sufferers  in  consequence,  so  far  as  this  world  goes. 
But  it  may  be  asked,  *Will  not  unprincipled  masters  or  mis- 
tresses be  likely  to  take  advantage  of  this  docile  and  unselfish 
spirit  ? '  Perhaps,  nay,  doubtless,  in  many  cases,  they  will. 
The  Salvation  Army  has  been  taken  advantage  of  all  through 
its  past  history,  and  so  have  all  the  true  saints  of  God,  be- 


SM  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

cause  they  have  submitted  to  wrong,  and  have  not  fought  the 
injustice  and  false  representations  and  persecutions  inflicted 
upon  them  from  the  beginning.  It  will  possibly  be  so  to  the 
end,  but  that  does  not  affect  the  principle  for  which  I  argue, 
which  is,  that  we  must  do  good  work,  and  as  much 
of  it  as  we  can,  regardless  of  what  the  world  may  give  us 
in  return. 

"But,  I  think,  I  have  sufficiently  shown,  as  I  have  gone 
along,  that  this  class  of  service  is  not  without  its  earthly 
rewards,  and  that  every  interest  of  human  nature — selfish  and 
otherwise  alike — ^testify  to  the  probability  of  its  proving  profit- 
able to  those  who  practise  it. 

"  If,  however,  the  reward  does  not  come  in  the  form  of 
money,  or  houses,  or  lands,  there  will  be  gain  in  that  which 
is  far  more  valuable  than  money  and  houses  and  lands,  and 
which  money  and  houses  and  lands  cannot  buy.  There  will 
be  the  gain  in  peace,  in  satisfaction,  and  in  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  this  life,  to  say  nothing  of  the  gain  in  the  world  to 
come.  But,  on  this  point,  I  shall  have  more  to  say  another 
time. 

"I  remember  hearing  a  gentleman  relate  the  following  in- 
cident in  a  large  meeting :  *  Some  time  back,*  he  said,  *  I  was 
passing  through  the  streets  of  Liverpool.  It  was  a  cold,  raw, 
wintry  day.  The  streets  were  ankle-deep  in  an  unpleasant 
mixture  of  mud  and  ice,  and  battling  through  it  all,  there 
came  along  a  little  procession  of  ragged,  haggard,  hungry- 
looking  boys.  Splash,  splash,  on  they  went,  through  the 
freezing  slush,  at  every  step  making  the  onlookers  shudder 
as  they  stood  by  in  their  warm,  comfortable  coats  and  furs. 
In  the  front  rank  was  a  little  fellow,  who  was  scarcely  more 
than  a  bag  of  bones,  half-naked,  barefooted,  his  whole  frame 
shivering  every  time  he  put  his  foot  down  on  the  melting 
snow. 

"  *  All  at  once,  a  big  boy  came  forward,  and,  stooping  down, 
bade  the  lad  put  his  arms  round  his  neck,  and,  lifting  him  up 
on  his  back,  took  his  perished  feet  one  in  each  hand  and 
jogged  along  with  his  burden. 

"*I  was  moved,'  said  the  speaker,  'at  the  sight;  and  going 
up  to  the  boy,  commended  him  for  his  kindness.  In  his 
Lancashire  brogue  the  lad  replied,  "Aye,  aye,  sir;  two  feet 
in  the  cold  slush  are  not  so  bad  as  four."  After  a  while,' 
said  the  speaker,  *I  offered  to  carry  the  little  chap  myself, 
but  the  honest  fellow  shook  his  head,  and  said,    "  Nay,  nay 


THE  GENERAL  AS  A  WRITER  325 

Mister;  I  winna  part  with  him.  I  can  carry  him;  and  he's 
a-warming  o'  my  back."' 

"And  so,  if  seeking  the  good  of  others  may  not  bring  as 
much  worldly  gain  as  a  selfish  course  of  action,  it  does  en- 
sure that  joyful  warmth  of  heart  which  all  loving  service 
brings,  and  which  is  among  the  most  valuable  of  all  the  treas- 
ures of  earth  or  Heaven.  Every  man  who  acts  on  this  prin- 
ciple is  adding  to  the  general  sum  of  human  happiness.  What 
is  the  sum  of  celestial  happiness,  the  happiness  of  God,  the 
happiness  of  the  angels,  the  happiness  of  the  Blood-washed 
spirits  who  are  safely  landed  there?  In  what  does  this  hap- 
piness chiefly  consist? 

"  I  reply.  Not  in  the  golden  streets,  the  unfading  flowers, 
the  marvellous  music,  nor  all  the  other  wonders  of  the  Celes- 
tial Land  put  together,  but  in  Love.  Love  is  the  essence  of 
the  bliss  of  Heaven,  for  *Love  is  Heaven,  and  Heaven  is 
Love.'  This  happiness  we  can  have  below.  It  is  not  the 
love  others  bear  to  us  that  makes  our  felicity,  but  the  love 
we  bear  to  them;  and,  thank  God,  we  can  as  truly  love  on 
earth  as  we  can  in  Heaven. 

"And  then,  as  I  have  been  saying  all  along,  acting  on  this 
principle  constitutes  true  religion.  As  labour  done  from  self- 
ish, fleshly  motives  is  of  the  earth,  and  as  the  results  which 
follow  it  will  perish  with  the  earth,  even  so  labour  done  to 
bless  mankind  and  to  please  God  is  Divine,  and  the  results 
flowing  out  of  it  must  be  everlasting  honour  and  joy.  Where 
this  principle  is  carried  into  eflfect,  every  part  of  human  con- 
duct becomes  religious — nay,  a  positive  act  of  Divine  worship, 
and  an  acceptable  song  of  praise." 


IMPORTANT  EVENTS  CONNECTED  WITH  THE 
GENERAL'S  LIFE  AND  WORK 

Q 
182^.    Jan.  17th.      Catherine     Mumford — afterwards     Mrs. 

Booth — born   at   Ashbourne,   Derby- 
shire. 
Apr.  loth.     William  Booth  born  at  Nottingham. 
1844.  Conversion   of    Catherine   Mumford   and 

William  Booth. 
1852.     Apr.  loth.     William    Booth    entered    the    Methodist 

Ministry. 

1855.  Junei6th.     Marriage  of  William  Booth  and  Cather- 

ine Mumford. 

1856.  March  8th.     Birth  of  William  Bramwell    (now  Gen- 

eral) Booth. 
1859.  Mrs.    Booth's    first    pamphlet    "  Female 

Ministry"  published. 
1861.  Commenced  to  travel  as  a  Revivalist. 

1865.    July  5th.       Commenced    Mission    Work   in    East   of 

London. 
First  Headquarters  opened  in  Whitechapel 

Road. 
1868.  Christian    Mission    commenced    work    in 

Scotland. 
1870.  Publication  of  "  How  to  reach  the  Masses  " 

by  the  Rev.  W.  Booth. 
1875.  Publication  of  first  volume  of  music* 

1878.  First  Deed  Poll,  signed  legally,  constituting 

The  Christian  Mission. 
"        Xmas.  The  name  of  The  Christian  Mission  al- 

tered to  The  Salvation  Army,  and 
the  Rev.  William  Booth  assumed  the 
title  of  General. 

First  Corps  flag  presented  by  Mrs.  Booth. 

"Practical   Christianity"  hf  Mrs.   Booth 
published. 

1879.  Dec.  29th.     Publication  of  first  number  of  the  ''  War 

Cry." 
Formation  of  first  Salvation  Army  Band 
at  Consett. 
326 


IMPORTANT  EVENTS  8^ 

1880.  Headquarters  removed  to  Queen  Victoria 

Street. 

Opening  of  the  work  in  the  United  States 
and  Australia. 

Opening  of  first  Training  College. 

Publication  of  first  '*  Orders  and  Regula- 
tions." 

"  Godliness,"  by  Mrs.  Booth,  published. 

1881.  Work  extended  to  France. 

First  number  of  the  ''Little  Soldier"  is- 
sued. 

1882.  Opening  of  the  Congress  Hall  and  Inter- 

national Training  College  at  Qapton. 

Marriage  of  W.  Bramwell  Booth  and  Cap- 
tain Florence  Soper. 

Work  extended  to  Switzerland,  Canada, 
Sweden  and  India. 

Publication  of  "  Life  and  Death  "  by  Mrs. 
Booth. 

First  Prison-Gate  Home  opened  in  Lon- 
don. 

1883.  Work  extended  to  South  Africa  and  New 

Zealand. 

1884.  "  The  Training  of  Children,"  by  the  Gen- 

eral, published. 
First  Band  Journal  issued. 
First  Rescue  Home  opened. 

1885.  "  All  the  World  "  first  published. 
Criminal  Law  Amendment  Act  passed. 
Trial  and  acquittal  of  W.  Bramwell  Booth. 

1886.  Death  of  The  Army's  first  French  Martyr. 
The  General  paid  his  first  visit  to  France, 

the  United  States  and  Canada. 

First  International  Congress  held  in  Lon- 
don. 

Work  extended  to  Germany. 

"Musical  Salvationist"  published. 

Self-Denial  Week  established. 

First  "  Orders  and  Regulations  for  Field 
Officers"  published,  and  first  "Or- 
ders and  Regulations  for  Staff  Of- 
ficers" published. 


328  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

1887.  Thousand  British  Corps  established. 
First  Slum  Settlement  established. 
"Work  extended  to  Holland,  Denmark  and 

Zululand. 

First  Crystal  Palace  Anniversary  Demon- 
stration. 

Auxiliary  League  founded. 

General  paid  his  first  visit  to  Denmark, 
Sweden  and  Norway. 

"Popular  Christianity,"  by  Mrs.  Booth, 
published. 

1888.  First  Food  Depot  opened  at  Limehouse. 
Work    extended   to    Norway,    Argentine, 

Finland  and  Belgium. 
"        June  2 1st.      Mrs.  Booth  gave  her  last  public  address. 

1889.  The  Petition  for  the  Sunday  Closing  of 

Public-houses,    with    436,500    signa- 
tures,   presented    to    the    House    of 
Commons  by  the  General. 
Publication  of  ''  The  Deliverer." 
General  visited  Belgium,  Denmark,  Swe- 
den and  France. 

1890.  25th  Anniversary  of  The  Army  celebrated 

at  the  Crystal  Palace. 
Oct.    4th.      Mrs.  Booth's  Death. 
"  "     13th.     Funeral  Service  at  Olympia — 36,000  pres- 

ent. 
"  "     14th.      Funeral  at  Abney  Park. 

Publication  of  "  In  Darkest  England  "  by 
the  General. 

1 89 1.  Work  extended  to  Italy  and  Uruguay. 
General  first  visited   South  Africa,  Aus- 
tralia, New  Zealand  and  India. 

'£  1,000.    o.    o.    subscribed   for   ''  Darkest 

England"  Scheme. 
General  signed  "  Darkest  England  "  Trust 

Deed. 
Opening  of  Industrial  and  Land  Colony  at 

Hadleigh,  Essex. 
Publication  of  "  Social  Gazette." 

1892.  General   visited   Denmark,   Germany   and 

Switzerland. 
Publication  of  "  Life  of  Catherine  Booth." 


IMPORTANT  EVENTS  329 

1892.  Work  extended  to  West  Indies. 

1893.  General  visited   Denmark,    Sweden,   Bel- 

gium, Holland  and  Norway. 

1894.  International  Congress,  in  connection  with 

the  General's  Jubilee,  held  in  London. 

General  visited  America  and  South  Euro- 
pean Countries. 

Work  extended  to  Java. 

1895.  General   visited   South   Africa,   Australia 

and  various  European  Countries. 
Work    extended    to    Japan    and    British 

Guiana. 
Naval  and  Military  League  established. 

1896.  General  visited  Germany,  Sweden,  Swit- 

zerland and  Denmark.  Preached  to 
12,000  in  Kings  Gardens,  Copen- 
hagen. 

First  Salvation  Army  Exhibition  —  Agri- 
cultural Hall,  London. 

Work  extended  to  Malta. 

1897.  ^  General  inspected  work  in  European  coun- 

tries. 

1898.  General  visited  United  States,  Canada  and 

European   countries. 
"  Orders  and  Regulations  for  Social  Of- 
ficers "  published. 

1899.  Second  Salvation  Army  Exhibition — Agri- 

cultural Hall. 
Visited  Australia,   New  Zealand,   Ceylon 

and   European  countries. 
Officers  sent  to  the  front  to  work  amongst 

both  sides  in  the  South  African  War. 

1900.  General  visited  European  countries. 

1901.  General  visited  European  countries. 
Opening  of  first  Inebriates'  Home  at  Had- 

leigh. 

1902.  General  visited  United  States,  Canada  and 

European  countries. 
Publication  of  "  Religion  for  Everyday " 
by  the  General. 

1903.  General  visited  America,  Canada  and  Eu- 

ropean countries. 
Received  by  President  Roosevelt. 


3S0  GENERAL  WILLIAM  BOOTH 

1904-    June  24th.     The   General   received   by  His   Majesty, 

King  Edward  the  Seventh,  at  Buck- 
ingham Palace. 
"        June  25th.     International  Congress  opened  by  the  Gen- 
eral in  London. 
"        July  23rd.     General  received  by  Her  Majesty,  Queen 
Alexandra,  at  Buckingham  Palace. 
August.       Commenced  his  Motor  Campaign. 
Work  extended  to  Panama. 
General  visited  various  European  coun- 
tries. 

1905.  General   visited   Palestine,   Australia   and 

various  European  countries. 

First  Emigration  Ship  sails  from  Liver- 
pool for  Canada  with  1,000  emigrants. 

The  General  created  Honorary  D.  C.  L., 
Oxford. 

General  received  Freedom  Cities  of  Lon- 
don and  Nottingham. 

1906.  Establishment  of  Anti-Suicide  Bureau. 
General  conducted  lengthy  Campaigns  in 

Continental  countries. 

1907.  General  visited  Japan,  America,  Canada, 

etc. 
General   received  by  Kings  of  Denmark 
and  Norway,  and  Queen  of  Sweden, 
and  Emperor  of  Japan. 

1908.  Work  extended  to  Korea. 
General  visited  South  Africa. 

1909.  General  visited  Russia,  Finland  and  other 

European  countries. 
General  received  by  Kings  of  Norway  and 

Sweden. 
General  received  by  Prince  and  Princess 

of  Wales,  now  King  and  Queen  of 

England. 
General  received  by  Queen  Alexandra  and 

the  Dowager  Empress  of  Russia. 
80th  Birthday  Celebration  at  Albert  Hall, 

London. 
Met  with  accident  involving  loss  of  sight 

of  one  eye. 


IMPORTANT  EVENTS  331 

19 10.  General   visited  various  European  coun- 

tries. 

191 1.  General  visited  Italy  and  other  European 

countries. 
General    conducted    International    Social 
Council  in  London  attended  by  Of- 
ficers from  all  over  the  world. 

1912.  General    visited    North    European    Staff 

Council  in  Norway. 
May  23rd.    Operation  on  remaining  eye,  followed  by 
complete  loss  of  sight. 
"        Aug.  20th.    The  General  laid  down  his  Sword. 


UKIVV.-R^ 


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